A few weeks ago, my wife and I visited a nursery for our expected child. It’s one of several in the area but the only one with opening times that are conducive to both mine and my wife’s working hours.
We are keen to get Baby Boot in there but were told that in order to be considered for a place next September, we should ‘apply’ now. There is clear anecdotal evidence at least that in our area, there is a heavy demand for nursery places. This could be met by the private sector but I know of no new nursery openings, or expansions by existing nurseries (space constraints probably hinder the latter).
Is another reason for the lack of private sector enthusiasm the Government’ continuing subsidisation of nursery places in its day centres, driving up wages for good staff? If the offer of a subsidised place is to encourage mothers in particular to return to work, then I can see a big crowding out effect. Wages increase massively in private nurseries, making them too expensive for many parents who either give up work altogether to become full-time carers, or they switch their children to a new subsidised government-run centre. These are likely to be of poorer quality with the added uncertainty that no-one knows how long the subsidy will last, further choking off demand.
And why subsidise a nursery place to the effect of £113.00/week for a child that may still end up being a net taker from society in the future? Surely, if you want to subsidise, then isn’t it better to subsidise secondary school pupils who at least have signalled some intention of wanting to progress to university and eventual work? I never did understand the logic of scrapping the assisted place scheme (yes, of course, there’s no logic as such involved, but you know what I mean?)
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