Council to write to Executive on soaring childcare costs

COUNCIL has heard that childcare provision in the district is “on its knees”, as almost three quarters of childcare providers will have increased their fees by June.

This followed a motion by UUP councillor Derek Hussey at last week’s full council meeting which proposed writing to the Executive Office and calling on the Northern Ireland Executive to “prioritise cross-departmental financing of a viable early years childcare strategy”.

A recent poll, by Employers for Childcare, found that 73 per-cent of childcare providers had either increased fees at the start of this year or intend to by June.

Cllr Hussey said that as the cost of living continues to rise, childcare providers have “no other option” than to raise fees to cover overheads and as a consequence families are “burdened with increased charges”.

“Currently the increase in fees stands at 14 per-cent, well above the rate of inflation, so clearly the childcare sector here is on its knees,” Cllr Hussey added. “Childcare providers are struggling as their expenses soar and there’s no option but to pass cost onto client families or face closure.

“The results of the poll clearly reinforce what has been obvious for months: They demonstrably emphasise that the sector and parents continue to struggle with these costs and the threat of closure is very real.

“When the Assembly returned a motion called for high quality, affordable childcare and this was unanimously supported.

“However, whilst there has been commitment, cross-party discussions need to be expedited on how they plan to move forward and finance a viable strategy.”

Sinn Féin councillor Caitlin Deeney said the Minister for Finance, Caoimhe Archibald, has prioritised an affordable childcare strategy since the restoration of the Executive, as it was a “key priority” for Sinn Féin.