The move is one of a number of emergency measures that the TUC is calling for to prevent widespread and unnecessary job losses among working parents.
In a new report, Forced out: the cost of getting childcare wrong, the TUC argues that without immediate action to support women to stay in work there is a risk that decades of progress on women’s labour market participation will be lost.
According to the TUC, key workers, who are more likely to be women, have struggled to access childcare during the crisis, with 67 percent of early years providers unable to offer provision to any parents, having to close completely, and many fearing that they will be unable to reopen due to financial loss.
‘Not having enough childcare for working parents risks reversing decades of progress women have made in the labour market, and increasing the gender pay gap – as well as having a damaging impact on our national economic productivity,’ the report said.
‘Necessary measures, such as the mass and prolonged closure of schools and childcare settings and social isolation restrictions that that prevent friends and family providing informal childcare support, has meant working parents have become full-time carers for their children. Due to the unequal division of care in household, this has created new, additional demands and burdens on working mums, negatively impacting their working lives and worsening the penalty they face in the workplace.’
It adds, ‘As more people are encouraged back to work that cannot be done at home, this means many mums remain unable to return, as no one else can look after their children. Without access to furlough these mums are at high risk of losing their jobs or hours.
‘Action is needed to ensure that while social distancing measure remain in place, enough childcare places are available to enable working mums to do their paid jobs. The Government should take urgent action to give a critical cash injection to the childcare sector to ensure providers can remain open and financially viable.
‘The lack of consideration of childcare in the Government’s exit strategy has left working parents, particularly mums, in a terrible bind. Many working parents will be asked to return to work before there is the childcare to enable them to do so and without the necessary rights to protect their jobs and income.’
Early years organisations are backing the call from the TUC.
National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) chief executive, Purnima Tanuku said childcare businesses were ‘really struggling to remain sustainable’, and that many had stayed open throughout this crisis to ensure critical workers were able to do their jobs.
‘They have supported the fight against Covid-19 since lockdown and that must now be recognised as they continue their own battle to keep afloat,’ she said.
‘This country needs nurseries which play a key role in supporting maternal employment as well as supporting children’s development and early education.’
NDNA’s recent survey found that on average only 35 per cent of children have returned to nursery this week in England.
‘This loss of parental income means that 71 per cent are expecting to operate at a loss for the foreseeable future,' she added.
‘NDNA is also lobbying the Government for urgent financial support for nurseries in the form of a transformation and recovery fund to help them with their sustainability.’
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said, ‘Early years providers play a fundamental role in our national infrastructure and will be crucial to limiting the economic impact of Covid-19 by allowing parents, and particularly mothers, to return to work. Without urgent action the Government risks sleep-walking the sector into a potentially irreversible financial crisis that will have disastrous long-term impacts on the quality and availability of childcare in this country.
‘Of course, that said, while an emergency cash injection would be a very welcome step, this could only ever be a short-term solution. If we are to guarantee the long-term survival and sustainability of the childcare sector, then the Government must urgently review its funding of early years and commit to sustained long-term investment which provides the sector with the financial support it desperately needs to survive.’
Tulip Siddiq MP, Labour’s shadow minister for children and early years said, 'Childcare will be an essential part of our economic recovery from Covid-19, yet the sector is under huge pressure and could collapse without more support. This would be a disaster for working families, and many mothers in particular could be forced out of work if nurseries and childminding businesses aren’t able to survive this crisis.
'The TUC is right to highlight the need for more support for the early years sector and better protections at work for parents who aren’t able to find childcare. Labour has long been calling for better financial support for childcare providers to cope with significantly reduced demand and additional safety costs in this crisis.'
A Department for Education spokesperson said, 'Early years professionals continue to support families at this difficult time and we have been working very closely with the sector on the wider opening of settings.
'We are providing significant financial and business support to protect childcare providers – this includes the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which providers can access for employees whose salary is not covered by public funding – and we have continued early years funding to councils, worth a planned £3.6 billion in 2020-21. We have also confirmed that parents that are critical workers normally eligible for the Government’s childcare offers will continue receiving these over the summer term even if their income levels fall due to the impact of coronavirus.'
