Labour plans to give nearly 2,000 toddlers in Southport 30 hours free childcare a week have been hailed as “a massive boost” for many local families.
The radical expansion of free childcare will save families thousands of pounds a year, says Southport’s Labour Parliamentary Candidate, Liz Savage.
The plans will be accompanied by opening a Sure Start centre in every community to “unlock the potential of all our children” as Labour outlined a £1 billion investment programme to reverse the devastating cuts to childcare inflicted by the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives.
This comes as new figures reveal childcare costs have risen twice as fast as wages since then.
Liz Savage says the plans will help Southport families not only save thousands of pounds a year in childcare fees for two to four-year-olds but also make sure they have access to a far stronger support network:
“This is the real change that the next Labour government is going to bring to people’s lives. It will be a massive boost for local families. Just imagine how much easier this will make life and work for the parents of young children locally and across the country.”
New analysis by the House of Commons Library found that under the expansion of free childcare which Labour plans to deliver, the average parent of a two-year-old not currently eligible for childcare support would save over £5,000 a year – while parents with children aged two to four who are currently only eligible for 15 hours, would save over £2,500 a year.
Nationally, Labour’s expansion of 30 hours of free childcare will benefit over 880,000 three and four-year-olds, and over 500,000 two-year-olds by the end of the Parliament.
Liz Savage believes it would be a huge help to local parents and children alike, with 1,979 local youngsters benefitting:
“Labour’s free childcare will mean much-reduced stress and money troubles for Southport parents saving £5,000 a year and knowing their kids are being looked after.”
“Among many awful legacies of the Lib Dem and Tory cuts, losing 1,000 Sure Start centres must surely rank as one of the most short-sighted and mean spirited. We’re ending that. Labour’s going to deliver real change.”
Announcing the policies, Angela Rayner, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, said:
“Investment in the early years can transform the lives of children and their families across this country, just as the last Labour government transformed mine.”
“The Tories and Lib Dems have slashed funding for Sure Start, while their so-called free childcare offer locks out those families most in need of support.”
Labour has also confirmed it will create a National Education Service, which will see the creation of a new education system, with its emphasis on providing world-class teaching from cradle to grave, with adults seeking to reskill also being catered for. The Shadow Education Secretary explained:
“People have been held back for too long… We will make free education a right to ensure we have the skills we need to allow our economy to rise to the opportunities of the future.”
Liz Savage, who was one of the speakers at the event announcing the new education service in Blackpool, said:
“As someone who qualified under the last Labour government’s excellent Graduate Teacher training scheme, which rightly allowed teacher trainees to be paid for their time in the classroom, I fully appreciate how adult learning and reskilling opens all sort of opportunities for people.”
“Labour’s National Education Service will benefit young and old alike, and will prove of immense value to our economy too.”
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