New research has shown that parents in the East of England spend an average of £76,000 raising their children to secondary school age, says Ipswich Parliamentary Candidate, David Ellesmere. More than half of the cost is on childcare bills.
This is something that has been raised many times with me when I’m out speaking to people. Cost and availability of childcare are big issues for an increasing number of young families.
The Labour Party has said that it would increase the availability of childcare by guaranteeing that all primary schools provide “wraparound” services from 8am to 6pm daily. So working parents can drop their children off at a breakfast club in the morning and pick them up from an after-school club in the evening.
And the soaring cost of childcare would be reduced by increasing the amount of free childcare to 25 hours a week for three and four year olds.
Unsurprisingly, these are proving very popular policies with mums and dads, but also with many grandparents too. As childcare costs increase grandparents are being asked to look after their grandchildren more and more during the day.
A frequent comment I get is: “I love having the kids but I’m absolutely worn out by the time they go home!”
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