Families in East London say they are mulling their exit from their borough over the rising cost of childcare, despite government plans to double free entitlements for working parents next month. The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) spoke to several parents in Hackney who said the government’s incoming offer of 30 hours free childcare will not make nurseries more affordable for them after their council moved to hike charges and scrap subsidies from September.
Dad-of-two Jack Cornforth, whose eldest son attends a council-maintained children centre in London Fields, said the “almost doubling of fees” mean he will have to take his son out so he can enrol his youngest son there in the autumn and arrange several weeks of childcare elsewhere. “There was no way we could afford it,” he said.
Under Hackney Council’s new scheme, fees are set to rise by 7.5% for households earning less than £55,000 who make up the majority (59%) of families receiving subsidised childcare at the council’s centres, known as Children and Family Hubs.
The remaining households will now have to pay the full cost of childcare at council-run settings. According to the council, households in the next bracket with a total income between £55,000 and £70,000 accounted for 9 per cent of those using its maintained centres. The Town Hall added that most children in the borough get their funding entitlement at a private or independent setting or school.
‘It’s not just a regular fee increase’
However, parents have said the fee hikes have virtually wiped out the government’s expanded childcare offer for them, and they are now “reluctantly” moving to take their kids out of their “amazing” council-run nurseries. This could mean losing several weeks of support each year, since not all settings offer the same amount of childcare.
Single mother Feyzi Ismail told the LDRS she is “furious” with the council. “There is no way I can simply absorb the absolutely horrendous fee increase.” Another single mum, Anne Whitehead, said she didn’t want to pull her son out of Hackney’s centres, where he and other kids were “thriving”, but felt she had no choice but to consider it.
Meanwhile, Guillermo Arsuaga said the rising cost of rent and childcare meant he and his family were now planning their exit from Hackney altogether.
“They are trying to somehow pretend this isn’t a major policy change and it’s just a regular fee increase,” Ms Ismail added. “It isn’t. I don’t know why they would want to wreck the one thing that’s brilliant about childcare in Hackney – the children’s centres.”
Who is entitled to free childcare hours?
Hackney Council has said its changes were designed to coincide with when the government rolls out its expanded free childcare for working families. From 1 September, children aged between 9 months and 4 years from households where either parent works at least 16 hours a week and on a salary below £100,000, will get an additional 15 hours care. This brings the total weekly entitlement to 30 hours.
However, critics say the council did not properly assess the impact of the changes. The campaign group Protect Hackney Nurseries, urging the council to pause and rethink – while also submitting their own report into how the hikes will affect families.
But despite protest marches, public and private meetings with councillors and an e-petition addressed to Hackney Mayor Caroline Woodley, the council has stuck to its guns. While acknowledging the hikes have come at a “difficult time” for families amid rising living costs, the Town Hall says these changes are the “only way to protect residents in greatest need”.
Mr Arsuaga told the LDRS he suspects the hikes were already dampening demand for the council-run settings like The Ann Tayler Children’s Centre. When trying to enrol his son last year, he said, staff encouraged him to apply elsewhere due to their having long waitlists. “Now we’re getting leaflets telling us there are places available”.
Hackney Council told the LDRS advertisements like this were not unusual and always went out during the summer, as admissions are usually low in August and September.
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