Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will bring forward plans to provide immediate financial support to help families in St Helens meet childcare costs.

In the Spring Budget 2023, my right hon. Friend, Chancellor of the Exchequer announced transformative reforms to childcare.

By 2027/28, the government expects to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education, helping families with pre-school children with their childcare costs. This represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England. Full details are accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-unveils-a-budget-for-growth.

Our reforms include:

• Providing over £4.1 billion by 2027/28 to fund 30 hours of free childcare for children over the age of nine months.
• Investing £204 million from this September, rising to £288 million next year, to uplift the rates for existing entitlements.
• Increasing the supply of wraparound care through £289 million start-up funding.
• Attracting more people to childminding through an up to £7.2 million start-up grant fund.
• Giving providers more flexibility by changing staff to child ratios to 1:5 for two-year-olds in England.
• Launching a consultation on further measures to support reform of the childcare market.

This is a massive expansion in the offer and will take some time to implement and rollout. We want to ensure that taxpayers’ money is used efficiently, and that the new offer is delivered in the best way.

The department is working closely with the sector on the implementation of these reforms, to identify what needs to be in place to support this significant expansion in childcare provision. We will set out further details in due course.

​The department’s Childcare Choices communications campaign aims to ensure parents, including families in St Helens, know about the government-funded support they are eligible for. ​The government has doubled the entitlement for working parents of three and four-year-olds to 30 hours and introduced 15 free hours a week for disadvantaged two-year-olds. In addition, working parents on Universal Credit may be eligible for help with up to 85% of their childcare costs every month. More information is available at: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk.

Details on the full range of support available to parents can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs.