Help hard-working families: extend 30 hours free childcare to include nannies
Did you know that nannies are excluded from the Government’s 15 and 30 hours free childcare scheme?
This limits families from accessing this kind of flexible childcare, and unfairly penalises those who already rely on nannies.
We’re calling on the government to extend the 15 and 30 hours free childcare scheme to include nannies and to make the system fairer and provide families with greater choice.
We believe any changes to the scheme cannot come at the cost of a nanny’s salary and any campaigning we do will always have nannies and families at the heart of it.
We see this as a two-step campaign.
Include nannies into the 30 hours scheme
Firstly, our aim is to ensure the current 30-hour scheme is all-inclusive, so it covers all kinds of childcare, no matter whether parents choose nurseries, childminders or nannies. Flexibility is absolutely key for working families. And that’s what this campaign aims to do.
Tax-free childcare already encompasses Ofsted-registered nannies, so the 30 hours scheme should too. We simply want to make sure that nannies, who are highly skilled and absolutely brilliant, are more accessible to more families.
Ensure the funding is fair
Secondly but most importantly, we believe the Government’s existing 30 hours scheme doesn’t recognise the cost of childcare today or a nanny’s hourly rate and this MUST be addressed.
We’d like to see the scheme materially altered to allow parents to use the money from the scheme as a contribution towards their nanny’s wages and this is what we will be campaigning for.
Why nannies?
We hear every day the impact a nanny can make on family life.
We also hear that securing places at nurseries and childminders is harder than ever. In the year to the end of March 2023, the number of childcare providers, including nurseries and childminders, fell by 4,800 while the number of childcare places fell by 24,500.
For many families, nannies are the only childcare provider flexible enough to fit around their busy work schedules and to enable them to keep working: most nannies are employed by families on a part-time basis.
And those who live in remote, rural areas often have no choice but to use a nanny.
Nannies are used by all kinds of families, not just the highest earners – who would not be eligible for 30 hours free anyway.
For families with more than two nursery-age children, hiring a nanny can work out cheaper (the average full-time cost of a full-time nursery place is £285 per week per child under two). Others save costs by arranging nanny shares with other families.
Nanny Sharz is a nanny, parent coach and childcare expert, with 19 years’ experience. She says,
“Just like teachers and teaching assistants, and early years and nursery practitioners, nannies are a critical part of the childcare and early years sector, offering flexibility in terms of where and when we work that other providers cannot. We all do similar childcare tasks and work to provide an enriched learning experience for children. Therefore I believe it is both unfair and a huge disservice that we are not included in the 30 hours free scheme.”
“During the pandemic lockdowns I gave away over 150+ of free nanny childcare hours to single-parent households. One of the topics that kept coming up when I spoke to single parents was why nannies were not included in 30 hours free and how helpful this could be for their families. The high-quality childcare and flexibility that we could offer more parents through the scheme would be hugely beneficial to families and help ease some of the childcare challenges that families face in finding suitable childcare for their children.”
Nanny Fizz is a Norland nanny with nine years of experience and has worked with more than 20 families. She says,
“The family I currently work for tell me they would like to have me for more hours throughout the week if they were able to use free hours towards my pay but, as this is not an option, they have signed their child up for nursery part time to save money on childcare. They’d rather not send her to a nursery but it is the best option to suit their finances. It’s a shame that childcare decisions always have to be price-led, rather than what’s best for each family. In this case, the parents both work from home, and would like to see their child on their breaks, but they can’t afford that option.”
“Many nurseries are now operating waiting lists and there are mothers that cannot go back to work because they can’t secure places in time. If nannies were included in the 30 hours free scheme, we’d have more work, children would benefit from the one-to-one, tailored care we can provide, and parents would have the luxury of choice and greater availability, be that nursery, childminder or nanny.”
Families are struggling
The cost of living crisis is impacting families who rely on nannies. According to a recent Nannytax survey, one in 10 are looking for lower-cost alternative childcare arrangements, and the same number have already reduced their nanny’s hours due to financial constraints.
The Government scheme currently offers 15 or 30 hours of free childcare per week to the working parents of children aged three and four (this will soon be gradually extended to those over nine months old, the Chancellor announced in the Spring Budget 2023).
It’s available to families who rely on nurseries, playgroups, children’s centres and childminders. Why not nannies?
Families who hire nannies can already use the Tax-Free Childcare scheme towards their childcare costs – providing the nanny is registered with Ofsted – so we see no good reason why the 30 hour free childcare scheme shouldn’t be accessible to these families, too.
Family Stories
Samara Bailey
“When you have twins your first thought isn’t what on earth am I going to do about childcare, but when you need to find thousands of pounds a month to go back to work, it’s the only thing you can think about.”
Samara Bailey lives in East Sussex with her partner and their three children – a five-year-old son and four-year-old twin boys. A full-time nanny worked out cheaper than paying nursery fees for all three at once, but the family has still struggled to cover childcare costs.
Catherine Gough
“There are many reasons why people opt for a nanny to look after their children. Being financially advantaged is not the only one.”
Catherine Gough, from Hertfordshire works in adult social care for local Government. Her daughter Indigo, now two-and-a-half years old, was born with a congenital anomaly where her stomach was not connected to her oesophagus. Indigo was tube fed from birth and, after multiple surgeries and time, has progressed to tube feeding at night only.
Frankie Gray, director of nanny agency Harmony at Home, says:
“We speak to so many parents who are frantically searching for flexible childcare so they can go back to work, and find they can’t afford to hire a nanny because 30-hours free can’t be used to pay their nanny’s wages. They tell us that nursery hours don’t suit their shift patterns, so they’re prevented from going back to work at all. This hurts the economy, as well as their careers.
“It makes absolutely no sense to exclude nannies from 30 hours free. Nannies aren’t only used by high net worths who would be ineligible for the scheme anyway. There’s also huge demand from middle income professionals, many of whom don’t work regular 9-5 hours. Our clients include NHS workers who work 12-hour or night shifts, or three days on, three days off. Nurseries simply don’t cater for these families.”
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