Fashion Roundtable On Childcare Policy: A New Vision for Our Future

By Paige Wilson from Fashion Roundtable.

Recommendation 1: Free child care from the age 0

Average yearly cost of childcare in the UK

• According to the Family and Child Care Trust 2017 report the average cost of part time (25 hours a week, under 3) child care ranges from £101 in Wales to £114 in England a week. Therefore, a year’s worth of part time child care in England equates to £5,928

• The Average cost of full time child care under three ranges from £119 in wales to £225 in England. Therefore, a year’s worth of full time child care equates in England to £11,700

Number of women out of work due to childcare commitments

• It seems that for women the percentage of women out of work with children varies depending on the age of their child 

• 59% of mothers with children under one were employed in 2012: this is compared to 56% of those with a child under one years old, 67% of those with a five year old and 75% of those with a seven year old

• Women carry out an average of 60% more unpaid work in 2016  (care work within the household) than men, a week women spend 26 hours per week doing this

• 10% of women aged 16 to 64 in 2015 stay out of work to look after the family or home, when compared to men whom only 1% age 16 to 64 were economically inactive due to unpaid care work

Pay cut due to childcare commitments

• Women on middle income distribution who work part time earn £2.60 an hour less than those who work full time- women tend to take on the bulk of the childcare and this can have a direct impact on their availability to work

Value detracted from the economy due to women leaving work 

• Long term economic gains from an increase in women in employment could amount to 9% increase in GDP for the UK

• The pay gap (based on mean hourly earnings6) between mothers and fathers is around 10% before the birth of their first child, but widens to a gap of around 30% by the time the child is aged 13

• The gradual widening in the pay gap between mothers and fathers after the arrival of the first child is reflected in a widening gap in the amount of time spent in the workplace. Many mothers leave employment for a time after the birth of the first child (this is observed for mothers across all education levels, but is particularly pronounced for the lowest- educated) while many others move from full-time to part-time work. Both effects result in a loss of labour market experience among mothers.

• which accumulates over time. By the time the first child is aged twenty, mothers have on average been in paid work for three years less than fathers: they have spent ten years less in full-time work, but seven years more in part-time work

• The pay gap between mothers and fathers increases by around 21% points between the birth of the first child and the child’s twentieth birthday, from 8% to around 30% (figures do not sum due to rounding). The IFS estimates that on average, half of the increase is explained by mothers spending less time in full-time work

Recommendation 2: Holiday support for working parents

Childcare costs during summer

• Normally prices for child care are higher in the summer 

• 1 week of full time care in the UK costing an average of £124.23. This means for a lot of families that they are not financially no better off in work. 

• Also creates a ‘no pay, low pay cycle’ for those that are lone parents. 

Children with no access to recreational activities during summer

• Added pressure on those from low income families- having added financial means to support the children- ie added costs due to food, activities and child care. 

• Those that do not have these means miss out on vital development opportunities (Stewart, 2018, p516). 

• This can result in learning stagnation and their health and well-being suffers- this can create a massive difference between those richer and poorest children. 

• There is a policy blind spot here with respect to equal opportunities for children within the school holidays. 

Holiday hunger

• Children going hungry during the holidays due to them not receiving meals which they would normally through the Free School Meals scheme. 

• 2018 the government announced £2 million for research to support disadvantaged families through healthy meals and enriching activities during the school holidays. 

• 2017 Trussell Trust (Wales) gave out 197 more emergency food supplies to children than in 2016.

• North Lanarkshire Council Scheme to wipe out holiday hunger by serving free school meals every day of the year.

• Summer learning loss- that children are at risk of regression within the holidays. This is most prevalent with those children which English is their second language.

Recommendation 3: Address the Gender Pay gap

Pay gap in the UK - increased/ decreased in the past 5/10 years?

• 2018- gender pay gap for median hourly pay excluding overtime

• 8.6% for full time employees 

• -4.4% for part time employees, thus women earn more than men

• 17.9% for all employees

• 9.05 million women were in full time work oct- dec 2018, 6,26 million were in part time work. 

• Women are more likely than men to be in part time work 41% of women employed were part time 2018

• Female employees are more likely than men to be working in jobs paying the NMW

• Fall in pay gap 2017 to 2018 to 8.6% amongst full time employees

Existing legislation to address GPG - successes and areas of improvement?

• Equality Act 2010 - regulations may require employers to publish information relating to the pay of employees in reference to the difference in the pay of males and females. In reality, employers publish these to give themselves an advantage over other employers and to attract employees.

• If employers fail to comply the offence can be punishable by conviction by a fine. 

• But the regulations do not apply to employers who have less than 250 employees.

• Person specific in Schedule 19.

• Government departments or parts of the armed forces that are non specified in Schedule 19.

GPG by demographic - which groups does it impact the most?

Income or age

Age- Full time employment

• 18-21, 2%

• 22-29, 1%

• 30-39, 1 %

• 40-49, 13%

• 50-59, 16%

• 60+,16%

Occupation- Full time 

• Elementary occupation- 30%

• Sales and customer service- 48%

• Caring, leisure and other service-77%

• Process, plant, machine operatives-10%

• Skilled trades-8%

• Associate professionals and technical-39%

• Professional occupation- 45%

• Managers, directors, senior officials -45%

Useful Links

https://eige.europa.eu/resources/wcms_371804.pdf

BBC News. (2019). Help for hungry children set for new high. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-45046994 [Accessed 3 Oct. 2019].

Claire Harding, Beth Wheaton and Adam Butler (2017). Childcare survey 2017. [online] Family and Child Care Trust. Available at: https://www.familyandchildcaretrust.org/sites/default/files/Resource%20Library/Childcare%20Survey%202017_Family%20and%20Childcare%20Trust.pdf [Accessed 3 Oct. 2019].

Family and Childcare Trust. (2019). Gender and pay: why having kids shouldn't mean a pay cut. [online] Available at: https://www.familyandchildcaretrust.org/gender-and-pay-why-having-kids-shouldnt-mean-pay-cut [Accessed 17 Oct. 2019].

Legislation.gov.uk. (2019). Equality Act 2010. [online] Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/78 [Accessed 3 Oct. 2019].

Ons.gov.uk. (2019). Gender pay gap in the UK - Office for National Statistics. [online] Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/genderpaygapintheuk/2018 [Accessed 3 Oct. 2019].

Pwc.co.uk. (2019). [online] Available at: https://www.pwc.co.uk/economic-services/WIWI/pwc-women-in-work-2019-final-web.pdf [Accessed 17 Oct. 2019].

Stewart, H., Watson, N. and Campbell, M. (2018). The cost of school holidays for children from low income families. Childhood, 25(4), pp.516-529.

Tunstall,R. and  Anne Green, Julie Rugg, Teresa Staniewicz and Katia Attuyer (2015). Women, families and work How to help L&Q’s women residents into work and tackle the barriers they face. [online] University of York and The University of Warwick. Available at: http://Rebecca Tunstall, Anne Green, Julie Rugg, Teresa Staniewicz and Katia Attuyer [Accessed 3 Oct. 2019].

Tes. (2019). Tackle ‘holiday hunger’ with year-round school meals. [online] Available at: https://www.tes.com/news/tackle-holiday-hunger-year-round-school-meals [Accessed 3 Oct. 2019].

The House of Parliament (2019). Women and the Economy.

The House of Parliament (2018). The Gender pay gap.

Workingfamilies.org.uk. (2019). [online] Available at: https://www.workingfamilies.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Modern-Families-Index_Full-Report.pdf [Accessed 3 Oct. 2019].