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I have read with interest the report produced by Save the Children called Making Work Pay - The Childcare Trap. I think that it is crucial support is given to children and families. Every child should have the best start possible in life. Work should always pay, and childcare costs should not be a major disincentive to taking up employment. Childcare costs should not be putting families into debt. Reasonably priced childcare should be available to everyone.
There is no doubt that this is a really important political issue and that the solution will be very complex, that is not an excuse for not trying though. I will be looking at ways in which this issue can be dealt with at local and national levels.
You can tell the Scottish and UK Governments that you think they should do something about this on the Save the Children website.
My Labour colleagues at Holyrood and Westminster, Ken Macintosh and Ann McKechin, have made their views known and you can read them below:
LABOUR WARNS OVER ROCKETING COST OF SCOTTISH CHILDCARE
McKechin: child poverty rise is disturbing
Macintosh: too many mums can’t afford to work
Labour MPs and MSPs joined forces today to warn over the cost of childcare in Scotland. Shadow Scottish Secretary Ann McKechin and Labour's education spokesperson Ken Macintosh raised the issue following a new survey by Save the Children and the Daycare Trust showing that a third of low-income families had gone into debt to pay for childcare. (1)
The Scottish Parliament’s finance committee has previously called for additional investment in early years, including childcare.
Labour’s Shadow education spokesperson Ken Macintosh MSP said:
"It is scandalous that parents here face the highest bills in the UK. This report makes grim reading for many families who are being squeezed in two directions.
"Parents face rising bills because the Tories have cut tax credits and child benefit, but the SNP have been too slow at keeping childcare here ahead of the pack.
"They say they want Scotland to have the best childcare in Europe, and I fully support that ambition, but we are in real danger of being left behind.
"The reality is that too many families face desperate situations as mums want to go back to their job but find they simply can’t afford to work."
Shadow Scottish Secretary Ann McKechin said:
"It is shocking that Scottish parents faced an average nursery bill of £5,178 a year, the most expensive childcare costs in the UK, but what is even more shocking is the SNP’s complacency on the issue. If work does not pay, then this becomes a serious issue for the individual families, the economy and Scotland as a whole.
"Decent, affordable and accessible childcare is essential for Scots and is a much higher priority for families in Scotland than the wasting valuable time on constitutional arguments.
"Child poverty has risen under the SNP, meaning we need to see more being done for Scottish children and their families. (2)
"It’s time for the SNP to wake up to the reality that the majority of Scots are simply not interested in their continual constitutional wrangling and want to see their Government focus on the things that really matter, like being able to afford to go to work and not be pushed into debt by spiralling childcare costs."
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
(1) The story is reported here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-14804038
• A quarter of parents earning less than £12,000 have given up work, mainly because of childcare costs
• A third have turned down a job on the same basis
• Families earning less than £12,000 are twice as likely as higher income families to move home because of childcare costs
• 63% of parents say they cannot afford not to work but struggle to pay for childcare
• A quarter of parents say the cost of childcare has caused them to get into debt
(2) Percentage of children in Scotland living in low income households:
Last full year that Labour were in government in Scotland: (2005/06): 44%
Under the SNP: (2006/07) 45%
(2007/08) 45%
(2008/09) 47%
Source: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/933/0109982.xls
The Scottish Government’s own Child Poverty Strategy Analytical Paper states that absolute and relative child poverty fell starkly under Labour, but ‘have not changed much’, or remained ‘fairly flat’ under the SNP.
“Relative poverty - Between 1998/99 and 2004/05 the percentage of children in relative poverty (before housing costs) in Scotland fell from 28 per cent to 21 percent. Since then relative poverty rates have remained fairly flat. In 2008/09 21 per cent of the population of children (210,000) were living in relative poverty2 (before housing costs). The overall reduction in relative poverty rates between 1998/99 and 2008/09 was one of the largest seen in any UK region.
“Absolute poverty - Trends for absolute poverty among children have been similar to those for relative poverty, though more marked. Absolute poverty among children fell from 28 per cent in 1998/99 to 12 per cent in 2005/06. Since then rates have not changed much and the 2008/09 figure was 11 percent. This equates to around 110 thousand children in absolute poverty.”
Scottish Government - Child poverty strategy consultation - Analytical paper, 10 November 2010 Source: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/304557/0107230.pdf
There is no doubt that this is a really important political issue and that the solution will be very complex, that is not an excuse for not trying though. I will be looking at ways in which this issue can be dealt with at local and national levels.
You can tell the Scottish and UK Governments that you think they should do something about this on the Save the Children website.
My Labour colleagues at Holyrood and Westminster, Ken Macintosh and Ann McKechin, have made their views known and you can read them below:
LABOUR WARNS OVER ROCKETING COST OF SCOTTISH CHILDCARE
McKechin: child poverty rise is disturbing
Macintosh: too many mums can’t afford to work
Labour MPs and MSPs joined forces today to warn over the cost of childcare in Scotland. Shadow Scottish Secretary Ann McKechin and Labour's education spokesperson Ken Macintosh raised the issue following a new survey by Save the Children and the Daycare Trust showing that a third of low-income families had gone into debt to pay for childcare. (1)
The Scottish Parliament’s finance committee has previously called for additional investment in early years, including childcare.
Labour’s Shadow education spokesperson Ken Macintosh MSP said:
"It is scandalous that parents here face the highest bills in the UK. This report makes grim reading for many families who are being squeezed in two directions.
"Parents face rising bills because the Tories have cut tax credits and child benefit, but the SNP have been too slow at keeping childcare here ahead of the pack.
"They say they want Scotland to have the best childcare in Europe, and I fully support that ambition, but we are in real danger of being left behind.
"The reality is that too many families face desperate situations as mums want to go back to their job but find they simply can’t afford to work."
Shadow Scottish Secretary Ann McKechin said:
"It is shocking that Scottish parents faced an average nursery bill of £5,178 a year, the most expensive childcare costs in the UK, but what is even more shocking is the SNP’s complacency on the issue. If work does not pay, then this becomes a serious issue for the individual families, the economy and Scotland as a whole.
"Decent, affordable and accessible childcare is essential for Scots and is a much higher priority for families in Scotland than the wasting valuable time on constitutional arguments.
"Child poverty has risen under the SNP, meaning we need to see more being done for Scottish children and their families. (2)
"It’s time for the SNP to wake up to the reality that the majority of Scots are simply not interested in their continual constitutional wrangling and want to see their Government focus on the things that really matter, like being able to afford to go to work and not be pushed into debt by spiralling childcare costs."
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
(1) The story is reported here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-14804038
• A quarter of parents earning less than £12,000 have given up work, mainly because of childcare costs
• A third have turned down a job on the same basis
• Families earning less than £12,000 are twice as likely as higher income families to move home because of childcare costs
• 63% of parents say they cannot afford not to work but struggle to pay for childcare
• A quarter of parents say the cost of childcare has caused them to get into debt
(2) Percentage of children in Scotland living in low income households:
Last full year that Labour were in government in Scotland: (2005/06): 44%
Under the SNP: (2006/07) 45%
(2007/08) 45%
(2008/09) 47%
Source: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/933/0109982.xls
The Scottish Government’s own Child Poverty Strategy Analytical Paper states that absolute and relative child poverty fell starkly under Labour, but ‘have not changed much’, or remained ‘fairly flat’ under the SNP.
“Relative poverty - Between 1998/99 and 2004/05 the percentage of children in relative poverty (before housing costs) in Scotland fell from 28 per cent to 21 percent. Since then relative poverty rates have remained fairly flat. In 2008/09 21 per cent of the population of children (210,000) were living in relative poverty2 (before housing costs). The overall reduction in relative poverty rates between 1998/99 and 2008/09 was one of the largest seen in any UK region.
“Absolute poverty - Trends for absolute poverty among children have been similar to those for relative poverty, though more marked. Absolute poverty among children fell from 28 per cent in 1998/99 to 12 per cent in 2005/06. Since then rates have not changed much and the 2008/09 figure was 11 percent. This equates to around 110 thousand children in absolute poverty.”
Scottish Government - Child poverty strategy consultation - Analytical paper, 10 November 2010 Source: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/304557/0107230.pdf
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