Today we’ve published our survey results, and yes, you read it right: childcare costs have increased by over 21% in less than one year, and the average cost of full-time childcare for 1 child is now almost £15,000 per year.
Almost 90% of the parents who completed our survey said the price increase happened within the previous 6 weeks, meaning that they are a clear consequence of the National Living Wage increase.
We are concerned that when urgent help is announced (our definition of urgent is clearly different to the Department who still can’t provide a timeline for intervention), it won’t be targeted to, or appropriately reach the families who are shouldering the financial burden of this crisis.
We have contacted all MLAs today to share our results, advocate for urgent intervention for families and raise our concerns with the lack of action to date. We plan to meet with members of all parties to discuss in more detail what we see as solutions to the question ‘what can we do now?’ And ask them to act to hold the Department, the Minister and the Executive accountable.
Parents, THANK YOU for sharing by our experiences with us. This is the responsibility of all of our parties and we’re working hard to make sure they understand the lived experience you all so generously share with us.
