More childcare support for babies proposed

Sabrina Köllich and Tony Silva hope the government will help support with childcare for parents

Two deputies have proposed providing free or subsidised childcare for children under the age of two in Guernsey.

In an amendment, Deputy Sasha Kazantseva-Miller and Deputy Heidi Soulsby said they wanted the States to look at the costs and benefits of providing more financial support to parents.

The amendment also proposes looking at more free pre-school hours and holiday cover for primary age children.

The charity Bright Beginnings said more financial support was a step in the right direction, but more staff were also needed to support the current demand.

'Already have infrastructure'

The States of Guernsey currently provide 15 hours of free pre-school education per week during term-time for three and four-year-olds.

Ms Kazantseva-Miller said there were many ways the States could support parents.

She said: "It's one of these low-hanging fruits that we can do something about very quickly because we already have the infrastructure around the 15-hour provision.

"We could extend that in terms of the hours available; we could offer it to a different age group and I think there is real scope in terms of distributing some of the existing benefits.

"So, I think it's a win-win for all."

The amendment said the States should explore the scope of delivering "such provision on a cost-neutral basis to the States, such as by prioritising redistribution of funding from the existing benefits system".

Lisa Blondel, CEO of Bright Beginnings, said more childcare workers were needed

Sabrina Köllich, who has a five-month-old baby, said if the States was to provide more childcare support, it would "help many parents out".

Ms Köllich said she applied for childcare when she was seven months' pregnant, but was told by many nurseries that they had no spaces, "so it was a little bit difficult".

Lisa Blondel, Bright Beginnings CEO, said current demand meant "we need new staff now to help with our current amount of children".

She said providing more options for parents could help, but "ultimately it's about parents bringing up a child in a happy, healthy relationship and financial problems do have an impact on relationships".

"If there's an opportunity for parents to take advantage of the childcare that might be on offer, then that could be really positive," she said.