The UK is facing a fertility crisis. Since 1979, women’s intended fertility has remained relatively stable, at around 2.2 children. In 2023, the total fertility rate hit a record low of 1.44 children per woman. There is a widening gap between the number of children women want to have, and how many they actually have. […]
This article is the latest in a fortnightly series of policy proposals from John Penrose and the Centre for Small State Conservatives. You can read the previous instalments here: Only Thatcher-sized reforms will end Britain’s malaise Britain’s benefits system is unfair for all involved Labour’s change to Ofwat doesn’t hold water The fiscal farce that’s […]
There are some lessons in economics that must be covered again and again, to counter the allure of misleading promises from politicians apparently bearing gifts. Take the promise of a free lunch. No such thing exists, but voters keep falling for it. The Government’s decision to impose VAT on private school fees has been justified […]
In her Budget speech, Rachel Reeves said that the measures announced would ‘restore stability to our public finances and rebuild our public services’. Yet, despite pledging to increase state spending to a whopping £1.5 trillion by 2029/30, Labour have failed to grasp an important piece of the crumbling-public-services-puzzle: the problem of a shrinking workforce.The latest […]
Our universities are up in arms again, this time about on-campus nurseries. Once a common feature of campus life, many of these services are now being closed or cut back in order to save cash. The latest organisation to withdraw the facility is the high-profile QMW in the University of London. This has been described […]
The childcare system in the UK seems to be beset with problems. Barely a day goes by without a news story about the high costs of pre-school care, or its ridiculously long waiting lists. Similarly, nurseries all over the country are going out of business, or being bought up by private equity. But as I […]
The UK was once celebrated as a world leader in championing parental support, but cuts to funding have left politicians longing for the past. With last week’s report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies revealing that children from low income families who grew up near a Sure Start centre performed up to three grades better […]
The 2023 Spring Budget announced an offer of ‘30 hours a week of free childcare for 38 weeks a year, for eligible working parents of children aged 9 months to 3 years’ to be rolled out in phases from 2024. The government claims this will help with the cost of living, support education for the […]
Childcare, like housing, is one of those products where the shortage has got so acute that it feels weird to have reservations about any policy aimed at expanding it. Yet just as the Conservatives’ proposal to unlock the mass conversion of family homes into flats, which I wrote about last month, is a two-edged sword […]
Britain has among the most expensive childcare costs in the Western world. It’s a sentence that you often see written down. But it can be hard to understand what that means until you’re actually a parent yourself. So let me put it more simply. For a while before she started school, my daughter’s childcare accounted […]
The Chancellor’s generous offer to provide 30 hours of ‘free’ childcare for one- and two-year olds will no doubt be popular, but it is symptomatic of Britain’s spiral of decline. Childcare costs are extraordinarily high in the UK. As the graph below shows, a British couple earning the average wage would have to devote 35.7% […]
Childcare is once more a hot political topic, with Tory MPs pressurising Rishi Sunak to come up with a plan to help working parents. Many were distinctly disappointed with reports the PM had shelved Liz Truss’ plans, which involved 50-hours a week of ‘free’ childcare for under-3s and the loosening of staff-child ratios. But with […]
Around 250,000 sprightly baby boomers have decided they’ve had enough of work and, not unreasonably, have decided to cash in generous pension schemes with the prospect of 30-40 years of leisure ahead of them. The Bank of England is worried about the number of older people checking out of the workplace, but maybe they have […]
After announcing her intention to build a ‘modern childcare system’ at Labour conference, shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson has clarified what this means. With a simple amendment to legislation, local councils will be allowed to open up new state childcare facilities – so more public spending, more mums working longer and more toddlers in state-run […]
Becoming a new parent has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Every day with my 11-month-old is a voyage of discovery. When I meet other parents there are two topics that always elicit a knowing look. The first is when I say they ‘grow up way too quickly’. Every parent knows […]
Petitions are one of the bluntest instruments in politics. Two of the biggest petitions ever to appear on the UK Parliament website called for Britain to stay in the EU and Donald Trump to be banned from a State visit to the UK – both were demonstrable failures. Likewise unweighted surveys are a good way […]
For parents, their child’s education, safety and upbringing are among their biggest concerns. But what families need and when they need it, varies dramatically. Some families with one working parent and one stay-at-home parent may only need childcare for a couple of hours a week, where carers simply provide parent-like supervision for limited periods of […]
After an election win, when the champagne has been quaffed and the naysayers pilloried (although the Tories didn’t think they were going to win outright either), there is always that awkward moment when ministers realise that they will actually have to implement what was promised in their manifesto. A scheme that might have seemed like […]
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