Nursery World - MPs to debate offering 15-hour childcare from nine months

MPs will today debate whether to extend the 15-hour childcare entitlement to working parents of children from the age of nine months.

The petition calls for the 15-hour childcare offer to be available for working parents when babies are nine months old

The debate is in response to a parliamentary petition, which received more than 146,000 signatures by last October, making it eligible for a debate.

Currently disadvantaged families are offered 15 hours of childcare for children from the age of two, the entitlement is universal for all parents of three- and four-year-olds, and working parents of three-and four-year-olds are eligible for an extra 15 hours.

The Government has said it has no plans to extend the free childcare offer.

Catherine McKinnell MP, chair of the Petitions Committee, will open the debate.

The petition, which received 146,937 signatures, states, ‘After 9 months of maternity leave, most working mums do not receive any maternity pay and need to go back to work.

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