Childcare provision in Leeds in 'crisis' due to 'woeful lack of national support'

Donna Patterson got in touch with the Yorkshire Evening Post to complain about the depleting levels of school wraparound care provision in the region “taking a massive toll on local families”.

Donna said that she and her son were directly impacted by the ongoing issue when the afterschool club at St Joseph’s in Wetherby was closed in April due to staff shortages.

She said: “It remains closed despite the school repeatedly advertising the roles on various platforms including at local universities, in colleges and on the Leeds City Council and school websites”

She said that the closure of afterschool clubs and decisions by childminders to leave the industry was “meaning a lot of families are left in impossible situations when it comes to caring for children outside of the very short school day”.

Donna volunteers for the charity Pregnant The Screwed, which recently found that the number of women leaving the workforce to look after family has increased. Donna said: “Insufficient childcare and the cost of childcare are undoubtedly contributing factors to the upsurge in women giving up their career and their economic independence.

“Without an urgent improvement in the provision of vital out of school club services in the area many parents & carers will be unable to work and as a result families will be put in an impossible position.

"It will be mothers who bear the brunt of it as more often than not they earn less, therefore it will be them who are forced to walk away from their jobs. This will have a huge impact on local families financial and mental well being.”

She said that she knew one mother that has had to turn down two job offers recently and as a result remains unemployed because of a lack of availability in after school care.

Donna also blamed the exodus of staff in the childcare industry on the poor pay, saying that in 2019, 44% had to claim state benefits and tax credits and one in ten childcare workers were officially living in poverty.

She said: “Clearly there is a serious widespread national issue with childcare provision. What I am not clear on is what is going to be done in the short term to rectify this.”

She suggested speeding up the qualification system so that more childcare workers are in jobs as soon as possible and called for a fairer distribution of the existing workers across all schools in the region.

She said that she has brought the matter up constantly with the city council, only to be told that securing staff is an issue across the country.

This was echoed by the council’s Executive Member for Adult and Children’s Social Care and Health Partnerships, Coun Fiona Venner. She said: “Childcare providers across the country are in crisis as a direct result of the woeful lack of national support for the sector. Providers repeated warnings about chronic underfunding and lack of resources have been ignored, and this has led to a national recruitment crisis.

“As a local authority we are aware of these pressures on early years staff and monitor local sufficiency. We offer help to schools with improving their Early Years offer, including wrap around childcare, as part of our commitment to support sustainable childcare that is responsive to the needs of the community.”

Coun Venner also said that low wages in the sector are down to an “inadequate” national early years funding formula imposed on the sector, adding that research has shown that over the last five years, hourly rates that the government pays to local authorities for funded childcare places grew by only 3.3% and over this same five-year period, the National Living Wage had increased by 19 per cent.

The Labour councillor said: “Providers being unable to offer sufficient pay is contributing to the difficulties in recruiting suitably qualified and experienced staff. I chair regular meetings for all of our Leeds Childcare Providers, whether they are childminders, local authority settings, or private, voluntary and independent sector, so that we can support them wherever possible.

"It’s through these meetings that providers have voiced concern that the Government’s proposals to reduce staffing ratios to try and address the rising costs of childcare, actually risk driving more staff away from an already overstretched sector.”

She called for “radical change” to “enable parents to access a modern childcare system that supports them to work the jobs and hours they choose”.

Donna is co-ordinating a March Of The Mummies demonstration in Leeds city centre by Pregnant Then Screwed this Saturday (October 29).

She said: “One of the demands the protest is making is for an increase in funding for the childcare sector to enable affordable, high quality childcare for all children.”

On the issue of childcare, Joeli Brearley, CEO of Pregnant Then Screwed, said: “The recent childcare crisis has been a long time in the making.

"For years, the government has underfunded childcare subsidies, paying childcare providers much less than it costs to operate the place; leaving providers with a large shortfall.

“Covid also had a negative impact on the sustainability of these businesses and finally the cost of living crisis, rising energy and food bills, have been the ultimate nail in the coffin. Thousands of providers have closed their doors, with our research in March showing that a local childcare provider had closed in the previous 12 months for 1 in 5 parents.

“There's an early years staffing crisis too - with talented childminders and nursery practitioners leaving because they can't afford to live on the meagre wages they receive.

"We need an urgent intervention where the childcare sector is concerned, enough is enough.”