Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish, has backed Labour’s ‘Children’s Recovery Plan’ after new analysis suggests that the average cost of a nursery place has increased by nearly £1,500 in five years.
Labour analysis has shown that for primary school children, the average cost of an after-school club has risen 17% over the same period. The data comes after a recent survey by Pregnant Then Screwed and Mumsnet found that 40% of mothers were having to work fewer hours than they would like due to childcare costs.
In the North West, the average price of 25 hours a week childcare for children aged under three at nurseries and childminders currently sits at £129.74. This represents an increase of 27% since 2018.
Labour’s Children’s Recovery Plan would invest in early years places for children on free schools meals and focus on boosting access to before and after-school clubs.
Commenting, Andrew Gwynne said:
“These figures are really worrying and putting working families under a huge amount of pressure in the middle of a cost of living crisis.
In the North West, to see such a massive increase in the cost of childcare in less than five years is absolutely shocking.
The Tories are failing children and families. Labour’s Children’s Recovery Plan would provide the urgently needed investment in early years places, and give families and children the support that they deserve.”