I read the report Little Britons: Financing Childcare Choices with real interest (News, 24 April). After all, a lot of money has been spent on early education and care, but despite good intentions, and the integration of services within DCSF, not much has worked. Does the report offer any new solutions?
Most people agree that the Government's policy to attract mothers of young children back into the workforce has failed. The assumption was that the Government would save on benefits and gain from tax revenue. But mothers aren't playing ball. They are staying at home with their children. As a result, nurseries are operating under capacity.
The London Development Agency/DCSF scheme of £33m to provide top-up fees so parents could afford nurseries resulted in a total of just 500 mothers in full-time work. The other 6,500 mothers targeted by the scheme either opted for part-time solutions, or did not make the transition from training into employment. That's a lot of money to spend for relatively little return.
The question is why the mothers-into-work policy has failed. Commercial childcare may attract high-income mothers, but the evidence suggests it fails low-income families. In countries where there are universal services, like France, the take-up for children aged two upwards is almost 100 per cent. This suggests it is not just a matter of mothers choosing to stay at home. The reputation, availability and cost of services make all the difference.
The Little Britons solution is to forget tax credits, pay all mothers of under-threes a standard amount of £50-£60 per week, and let them choose whether to stay at home or put the money towards the cost of a nursery. It has the great advantage of being simple to administer, unlike all those unclaimed tax credits. But to pay for it, all the other subsidies would go.
Any one-tack solution won't work in addressing women's equality and children's needs. Decent working hours and rights and benefits at work, as well as reliable, low-cost education and care, go hand in hand. Little Britons offers a simple cheap solution but doesn't add much to the debate.
Helen Penn is professor of early childhood studies at the University of East London.
