Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK without a childcare strategy
Education Minister Paul Givan has confirmed that it will be "a number of years" before a childcare strategy is in place in Northern Ireland.
Working parents in England can currently access up to 30 hours of free childcare a week for children under the age of 4, with this set to include children under 5 from September next year. Meanwhile, in Scotland, 3 to 5-year-olds can get up to 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare a year and in Wales, three and four-year-olds can get up to 30 hours of free childcare per week.
"I can assure the Memeber that there has not been any pausing of the development of the Childcare Strategy. What we did do was prioritise the establishment of The Northern Ireland Childcare Subsidy Scheme.I think that was important that we set that up and I have to say it has been rolled out across Northern Ireland incredibly well," the Minister said.
"The childcare strategy will take, I would say a number of years to get the final comprehensive strategy in place and I think my engagement with the stakeholders have indicated they want it to be comprehensive, detailed as we seek to develop that. “Parents across the North will be dismayed at the prospect of having to wait years before a proper Early Years and Childcare Strategy is put in place. When he took up the role the Minister said that delivering a strategy was ‘top priority’ so it will come as a shock that any meaningful intervention appears to be some way off," she said.
Stormont SDLP Department Of Education
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