CHILDCARE comes in many forms including grandparents, friends, day care centres, registered childminders.
All this has been turned upside down as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.
At the outset of this pandemic, childcare providers were among the first to step forward to support our key workers.
We are now at a different stage and we are moving out of lockdown as more restrictions are eased, however we have never needed our childcare providers more.
More people are returning to work in office, retail, hospitality and elsewhere.
Many of these workers need childcare to enable them to return to work.
We need to make sure our childcare sector is adequately supported and properly resourced to deal with the mammoth task ahead.
They need a plan which is clearly communicated to parents and providers.
I have met many concerned parents and providers who have all expressed their dismay at the lack of clear guidance on what future childcare looks like.
Maintaining services while ensuring safety of children and staff is a major concern for childcare providers. Parents want to be confident they are sending their children into a safe environment; childcare providers need practical support to do that.
Without intervention and support now, some services may never reopen.
This would leave many children without childcare, parents unable to work and many workers facing potential unemployment.
The problems of underfunding and fragmented provision were here before the current pandemic.
The Covid-19 crisis exposed that reality.
Childcare needs to become a key part of the economic thinking behind the recovery; it is not a side show.
Announcements have not been matched with support.
Hopes were raised when support for small businesses was announced.
But it hadn't been designed with childcare providers in mind and many within the sector did not match the criteria.
The majority of childcare businesses have closed. Their workers have been furloughed. £12m was allocated by the Finance Minister to the Department of Health in early April to support emergency childcare provision for frontline workers, but issues have arisen preventing it being spent as quickly as it should have been.
This is absolutely unacceptable; this money should have been spent in an efficient and effective manner to immediately support frontline workers and childcare providers.
Those with limited opportunity to expand available ‘caring’ space will face working at reduced capacity; without additional financial support this could make opening either impossible or unsustainable.
There are further concerns around difficulties in implementing social distancing measures to protect staff and children, accessibility of childcare for staff, costly building overheads and lack of consistent, coherent guidance.
The challenges which lie ahead for the childcare sector and families are considerable but not insurmountable.
The Departments of Economy, Health and Education must urgently produce the plan for childcare. It must be flexible, urgent and realistic.
It is women who will bear the brunt of this situation if this issue is not immediately resolved. That is something I am not prepared to accept.
I and my colleagues will continue to work with childcare providers and the relevant departments to address their concerns in the weeks and months ahead.
