The education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, is expected to announce this week that rules on the number of children each adult can care for will be relaxed. It comes after the Trades Union Congress (TUC) warned that the cost of childcare for parents with toddlers is “putting enormous pressure on family budgets” as the cost of living crisis continues. The UK has one of the most expensive childcare systems in the world and the rules on staff-to-child ratios in nurseries are stricter in England than in Scotland. While both England and Scotland currently allow a ratio of one adult to three children under the age of two, this changes for older children. In Scotland a ratio of one adult to five children over the age of two is allowed, while in England it is one adult to four children. According to the Times, the Department for Education is expected to align the rules in England with those in Scotland. Doing so has the potential to cut childcare costs by up to 15 per cent, or up to £40 a week for a family paying £265 a week to look after a two-year-old. Zahawi is also expected to loosen rules on where childminders can work, which will allow more people to become childminders. The current rules mean that childminders are expected to look after children in their own home or on someone else’s property. However, many potential educators do not live in homes that meet these criteria. The changes will allow carers to spend more time looking after children in other settings, such as community centers or village halls. Last month, the TUC published figures which showed that nursery fees for children under two have risen by more than £2,000 a year since 2010. The average annual nursery bill for a family with a toddler was £4,992 in 2010, but has risen to more than £7,200 from 2021, the organization said. More than a dozen organisations, including The Fawcett Society, Maternity Action, The Women’s Budget Group and Mumsnet, said last year that inadequate childcare policies were leaving tens of thousands of working parents financially devastated. The groups found in a survey of more than 20,000 working parents that the vast majority (97 per cent) said childcare in the UK is too expensive, with a third saying they spend more on childcare than on their rent or mortgage.
