The party will announce a £1 billion investment to reverse the Conservatives’ cuts to Sure Start and open 1,000 new centres in England at an event in Leeds today attended by Jeremy Corbyn and Angela Rayner
The Labour leader will also outline Labour’s plans to radically expand free childcare to 30 hours a week for all 2-4 year olds, which will save families thousands of pounds a year.
New analysis by the House of Commons Library, commissioned by Labour, found that under the expansion of free childcare that Labour will deliver the average parent of a two year old not currently eligible for childcare support would save over £5,000 a year
Parents with children aged 2-4 who are currently only eligible for 15 hours, would save over £2,500 a year.
Labour’s expansion of 30 hours of free childcare will benefit over 880,000 3 and 4 years olds, and over 500,000 two years olds by the end of the Parliament.
This comes as new analysis shows childcare costs have risen twice as fast as wages under the Tories.
Evidence suggests that early years education for children below the age of four has a positive impact on the life chances of disadvantaged children, but overall disadvantaged children spend significantly less time in pre-school than children from more affluent backgrounds. The attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their more advantaged counterparts is already evident when children begin school aged 5, with a gap between them the equivalent of 4.3 months of learning. This gap more than doubles to 9.5 months at the end of primary school, and then more than doubles again to 19.3 months at the end of secondary school.
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 have slashed funding for Sure Start leading to a loss of 1,000 centres, while their so-called free childcare offer locks out those families most in need of support.
“Labour will make high-quality early years education and access to Sure Start Plus a right for all families, in a country for the many, not the few”
