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The government “can’t guarantee” that everyone eligible for 15 hours free childcare from September this year will be able to get a place.
The government announced a year ago that free childcare would be expanded so “thousands more parents won’t have to choose between a career and a family”.
From April this year, eligible working parents of two-year-olds will be able to get 15 hours of childcare support, and from September, these 15 hours will be extended to parents of children aged nine months to three years.
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Asked about whether every eligible parent will be able to take advantage of the scheme, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said the government was hoping this would be the case but couldn’t guarantee it.
Speaking to Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, she said: “You know what you can’t do Trevor, which I think you probably know is guaranteeing something in the future that you’re not in control of all the bits.
“But what I will say is we are working to make sure that that offer, which I know parents are absolutely desperate for and I know our government is the only government that is determined to deliver it, but to make sure that we can deliver it. I’ve delivered many things here in my career.”
Ms Keegan added that “deliverability has been at the heart” of the project, which is why it is being rolled out in stages.
The current goal from the government is that by September 2025, all eligible working parents with children aged nine months and up will be able to access 30 hours of childcare a week.
Under repeated questioning of why she cannot promise a place for every parent, Ms Keegan said Trevor Phillips was “trying to pick on semantics”.
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