Debate contribution: Childcare Providers: Funding

Debate contribution by Mrs Michelle Guy on 21 January 2025.

MLA

Mrs Michelle Guy

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

21 January 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Childcare Providers: Funding

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4749579

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I am happy to take any opportunity to talk about high-quality, affordable childcare. It is such a vital issue for families, our wider economy and parents. Affordable childcare gives back to parents, particularly women, a level of freedom: the freedom to choose to remain in paid employment, when they become a mother, or to return to the workplace.

I will make a point that is perhaps not said often enough in debates when the framing is about parents going back to work. Stay-at-home parents are still working. In fact, they are doing a very tough, demanding and, often, lonely job. As a mother who was in a part-time role for a number of years, I assure you that I was still very much working during those years; I was just being paid part-time. I underscore that point in relation to other caring roles more generally: unpaid work is still work. The critical point in relation to childcare is that, for many parents, having a job simply does not pay, because childcare costs consume their wages. In Northern Ireland, the childcare subsidy scheme has been a welcome first step to making childcare more affordable. The approach is right, but the scale is not yet sufficient. I underscore to the Minister the fact that supporting and incentivising flexible working, along with career support for women who re-enter the workplace, is vital in order to complement initiatives such as the childcare subsidy scheme and the expansion of the number of full-time preschool places. The £50 million that was allocated to childcare through the Executive's draft Budget is a welcome and necessary investment, because, for too long, inaction and the collapses of these institutions have held back delivery on childcare, with support for our parents in Northern Ireland falling far behind that in other parts of these islands. Since our Government were restored, it is welcome to see support for investment in high-quality early learning and childcare policy. That policy area unites us across the Chamber. We endorse the model that was adopted for the subsidy scheme, and it reflects our policy proposals. We are hopeful that we will see that model of support being expanded to include school-age children as a minimum. As the proposer of the motion highlighted, childcare is an ecosystem, and our childcare providers are a vital part of it. The motion rightly draws attention to the business support scheme for childcare providers that forms part of the package of measures that the Education Minister announced last year, which, disappointingly, has not been progressed. The Economy Minister has been asked to account for that, and I am eager to hear that update, because, if providers increase their fees to cover the rise in National Insurance contributions that is due in April this year, we are at risk of negating the financial relief that some parents are finally feeling. An intervention that is similar to the model that was used to support parents should be looked at for providers, but it should be conditional on improving staff pay and ensuring quality provision. I pay tribute to all our childcare workers. They are an undervalued workforce of highly skilled and dedicated, caring professionals. However, remedies to meet recruitment challenges such as pay and conditions, training and investment in special educational needs and disability (SEND) support belong in a comprehensive early years childcare strategy, which we are still waiting for the Education Minister to publish. Successful delivery of that strategy will require cooperation between Ministers, particularly the Education, Economy and Health Ministers. I hope that the motion does not signal a breakdown in the working relationship between the Education Minister and the Economy Minister, because, in addition to the business support scheme, we need those two Ministers to work together to deliver on other objectives, such as, for example, post-19 provision and SEN provision, which is of particular urgency. If the Minister could offer an update on that work in his remarks to allay any concerns about undue delay due to ministerial friction, that would be welcome. The Executive's package of interim support for early years and childcare prioritises specific interventions to ease acute pressures. Childcare is part of our social and economic infrastructure. Delays in delivering the business support scheme must be addressed urgently to stabilise the sector and ensure that we do not risk jobs and provision in our childcare sector.

730 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:47 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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