Campaigners say Jeremy Hunt’s expansion of free childcare will help a generation of women to climb the ranks in the City
Jeremy Hunt’s expansion of free childcare will help a generation of women to climb the ranks in the City, campaigners said.
Women have made huge strides in the Square Mile but are ‘priced out’ of work by UK childcare costs, which are among the most expensive in the world.
Expensive: Women have made huge strides in the Square Mile but are ‘priced out’ of work by UK childcare costs
In his Budget this month, the Chancellor said 30 hours a week of paid-for care will be extended to parents of children aged nine months to four years from September 2025.
Forecasts suggest this will bring 60,000 parents into work by 2027/28. It will save the average family with a toddler in nursery more than £80 a week.
Harriett Baldwin, chairman of the Commons Treasury committee, said it ‘shows a clear pathway to help the deep bank of talented entrepreneurs to return swiftly to work after having a child’.
PensionBee founder and mother-of-three Romi Savova called the move a ‘game changer’.