Curse of Clegg strikes again as childcare costs surge

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg is getting the blame for soaring childcare costs that are leaving many women feeling it’s cheaper not to work than pay an average £6,000 a year in nursery charges.

State help towards childcare costs should have been a big election winner for the Lib Dems and Tory coalition, but a report today by the Family and Childcare Trust (FCT) could be a big vote loser at the school gates.

Tories believe it is another example of the 'Curse of Clegg' on childcare policy, which is his bailiwick in the coalition.

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Clegg is accused of having hatched a policy to help the low-paid afford nursery places which has backfired badly on middle-class families.

In short, the Lib Dem leader had the bright idea of offering free childcare for 15 hours a week to 260,000 two-year-olds from lower-income families. The trouble is, the government has not been paying adequately to cover the cost of this free childcare – so providers are passing the cost on to those who do pay for their childcare.

This, says the FCT, has led to bills for most families soaring by a third over the past five years, leaving many worse off and some middle-income parents such as teachers and nurses finding that it no longer pays to work.

Jill Rutter, the author of the FCT report, tells the Daily Mail: "A lot of providers argue that funding for free early education for two to four-year-olds is not enough.

"So they charge working parents more money above the rates for free early education to cross-subsidise that provision.”

The national average for childcare is now £6,000 a year - a rise of five per cent in a year – while many nurseries charge as much as £9,000 - £11,000. These are some of the highest charges for childcare in the developed world.

According to the National Day Nurseries Association, the money which childcare providers receive to deliver the free placements falls short by an average of £700 for each two-year-old place.

Paul Goodman, a former Number Ten aide, has accused Clegg on ConservativeHome of a calamitous series of blunders on childcare, including the ‘Great Clegg Free School Meals Fiasco’ which, Goodman claimed, failed to take proper account of the ability of schools to provide a hot meal for every child before Clegg announced the initiative.

The timing of the FCT report is particularly unkind to Clegg: today he unveils his latest wheeze – to extend the existing entitlement of 15 hours-a-week free childcare to all two-year-olds.

Fine words, but will they convince working parents? Especially those tens of thousands of Lib Dem voters the polls tell us are switching to Labour?