Families
are increasingly struggling to cope with the modern demands of juggling work
and children. With more women in work, fathers have become more involved in
family life.
If
we are to have both a successful and dynamic economy and thriving families, the
government needs to support families to manage work and childcare. But, from
talking to local families, it is clear that parents are frustrated by a system
that hasn’t caught up with the realities of modern life.
The
lack of affordable childcare and a place shortage means many families can’t get
decent childcare. Childcare costs have risen by 30 per cent since 2010 while
available childcare places have plummeted by over 40,000. Faced with these
pressures, many parents are asking why new Sure Start Children’s Centres are
closing.
Our
system of parental leave also restricts parents’ choices about how to organise
work and care. New shared parental leave laws are about to come in, but take up
is expected to be minimal because they don’t go far enough to recognise what
families need, with no extra help for families to spend time together with a
new baby.
The
businesses which are going further to help working fathers are receiving no
support from government, because it funds two weeks of paternity pay, at just
over £138 a week.
I
was proud to have supported an independent right to paternity leave. But now,
we need to go further to help more people to take it up.
This
government doesn’t understand the pressures faced by families today. It has cut
support for families with children by twice as much as everyone else. David
Cameron believes that the most important thing he can do for families is to
encourage them to be married by paying a measly tax break of £3.76 a week, for
which less than one in five families with children is eligible.
That’s
why I’m backing measures to help families with the cost of childcare by
extending free childcare from 15 to 25 hours a week for working parents of
three and four year olds. At the same time, we need to tackle the shortage of
decent childcare places.
I
also want to help mums and dads to spend more time together with their young
babies.
This
should be done by doubling the amount of paid paternity leave for dads to four
weeks, and ensuring that lower income families can take up their entitlement by
increasing the level of pay that government funds by more than £100 to at least
£260 a week, so that fathers receive the equivalent of a full weeks work at the
National Minimum Wage.
