Who is going to care for all these extra children?

I worked as a volunteer in a nursery. The hours were long and the pay poor. The staff movement was continuous. It is a very responsible job and needs staff with passion. Therefore they need to be paid well in order to have staff with skills and interest .....where will the money come from? This is the big dilemma

It's all about how we use our taxes and how much we're prepared to invest in the children, who are our future.
We are the fifth richest country in the world. Who says we can't afford to invest in good quality child care? I'm sure we can and we will reap the benefits as those children grow up.

So what's the alternative?

The nursery my children attended now costs £258.36 a week for under two year olds, which becomes slightly cheaper as they get older.

We struggled to pay when my ex-hubby and I were married, but I couldn't have afforded it at all when I became a single parent without child tax credits.

If I hadn't have worked, I wouldn't have been able to afford the mortgage and I would have had to claim Jobseeker's Allowance plus child tax credits. I would also have received housing benefit and council tax benefit.

I was fortunate that I did have a well-paid job and could just about cope, but many people don't. The total of JSA, child tax credits, housing and council tax benefit is probably more than subsidised or even free childcare.

Not only that, but I now have an occupational pension and will receive an almost full state pension, which means I won't be able to claim Pension Credit.

I am most pleased with the suggestion that Labour would revive the Sure Start centres - they were doing great work.

Good points growstuff.
Lucky - yes to Labours plan for Sure Start, one of the good things the Blair government started and the Tories are destroying

Iam64: We are the fifth richest country in the world. Who says we can't afford to invest in good quality child care? I'm sure we can and we will reap the benefits as those children grow up.

I agree with you. Of course we can invest in our children. It's a matter of ”where there's a will...” Also, there is a feeling over here that anybody can look after children and old people, i.e. you don't need any qualification to do so.

Absolutely Greta. I remember a recent conservative government who announced that everyone working in early years should be a graduate. The statement continued that grads could care for up to 5 under two year olds, whereas the current largely non grad contingent of nursery workers, could only care for 2.

You gotta laugh.

I think we absolutely HAVE to invest in our children. Although I don't think we are the fifth richest country, I think we have the fifth, or is it sixth now, largest economy. Richest is about wealth per person I believe and I seem to remember we come somewhere about 11th on that score.

But just think, we could be up at the top on a per person basis if we invest in our children

Iam64 I remember that idea. It was ludicrous. The idea was to cut the number of staff working in nurseries. France, for example, have cheaper nurseries, but a much worse staff/child ratio.

Personally, I don't think staff need to be graduates to work in a nursery, although I think it needs somebody of graduate calibre to be in charge of planning and, perhaps, noticing early signs of learning difficulty.

The theory behind having graduates wasn't to increase the quality in British nurseries, but to lower ratios. It doesn't make sense to say that somebody can have a higher workload just because (s) has higher qualifications.

Yes grow stuff, you are correct.

Scrapping the NNEB was a mistake. Learning on the job is not enough to understand social, linguistic, psychological, educational issues to name a few.

Quality training with decent pay and career structure is needed. When I trained to teach the ex NNEB students were so knowledgeable and skilled.

Interesting concept. The young woman in charge of the pre-schoolers in my GSs nursery is doing a part time teaching degree. She is one of the best early years practitioners (and I include teachers in that) I have ever seen. She's getting her qualification and working.