Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the effect of (a) the cost of childcare for families and (b) the number of parents not in work due to the affordability of childcare on the economy.

The most recent Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents provides some data on the cost of childcare and families. Almost three in five (56%) parents who paid for childcare in 2021 said it was easy or very easy to meet their childcare costs, a rise from 52% in 2018.

The department continues to look at ways to make childcare more affordable and to encourage families to use the government-funded support they are entitled to. In England, we have spent over £3.5 billion in each of the past three years on our early education entitlements to support families with the cost of childcare.

In the 2021 Spending Review, the department announced additional funding of £160 million in 2022/23, £180 million in 2023/24 and £170 million in 2024/25, compared to the 2021/22 financial year. This is for local authorities to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers, reflecting cost pressures and changes in the number of eligible children anticipated at the time of the spending review.

For the 2023/24 financial year, we will invest an additional £20 million into early years funding, on top of the additional £180m for 2023/24. This will help support providers at a national level with the additional National Living Wage costs associated with delivering the free childcare entitlements next year.

In July 2022, the department announced measures to increase take-up of childcare support to ensure that families can access government support to save them money on their childcare bills. This included our Childcare Choices communications campaign to ensure every parent knows about the government funded support they are eligible for.

We do not hold the data on the number of parents unable to work due to the cost of childcare.