The government’s extension of free nursery hours reflects a late recognition of problems the Tories’ are ill-equipped to address
Britain’s welfare state was conceived to care for citizens from cradle to grave, although changing governments have prioritised different parts of that demographic range. The Conservatives have tended to be most attentive to the older end of the electorate. Pensioners reliably vote Tory; infants have no vote at all. But their parents do, which is why Rishi Sunak’s administration belatedly woke up to the salience of unavailable or unaffordable childcare.
The product of that realisation was a promise to expand subsidised nursery provision in the 2023 budget. Previously, parents of children aged three to four were entitled to 30 hours of free childcare a week. As of this month, parents of two-year-olds (and earning less than £100,000 a year) will be eligible for an extra 15 hours. A further phase of the extension is due in September, with 15 more hours available to infants from nine months, rising to 30 hours by the end of 2025.
