As of Monday, April 1, qualifying parents and caregivers of two-year-old children are now eligible for fifteen hours of paid childcare per week, with additional extensions scheduled.
However, questions have been raised over the industry’s capacity to accommodate the increase in childcare spaces that the government wishes to provide.
When asked if Prime Minister Rishi Sunak could ensure that everyone who desired a position would receive one, he was unable to offer a specific guarantee.
He stated on news radio that increasing the sector’s capacity was crucial.
Mr. Sunak went on to claim that the government was trying to expand the workforce in the childcare sector and that it had “cut a lot of red tape”—making it simpler to become a childminder and relocate, for example.
