A sustainable and fair funding model for all types of childcare is important (All parents, working or not, should have access to childcare, say experts in England, 16 May). However, in its report, the Early Education and Childcare Coalition (EECC) neglects a great unfairness of the current model – those who choose to care for their children themselves receive no financial support.
As the director of the EECC says in your article, childcare is not just about facilitating parents’ return to work. Therefore the focus ought to be on nurturing and developing the child in the most appropriate way. Sometimes a parent will want to care for a child themselves and, in at least some circumstances, this will be the best way to support the child’s development. Enabling such an option (alongside one to return to work for those who want to) is in line with the report’s call for families to have genuine choice about how they care for children.
Financial support would help such families to better care for their children, and may even be the key to making it financially possible. A childcare model can never be fair and equitable until children receive equal financial support, regardless of whether they attend formal early years education or receive such education at home.
Sam Hardy
Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire
