Treasury considering huge expansion of free childcare in England

theguardian.com:

The Treasury is considering a proposal to massively expand free childcare to one- and two-year-olds in England in a move that would cost billions at the spring budget.

Department for Education officials have submitted a plan for a free 30-hours-a-week entitlement for working parents of children aged nine months to three years, after being asked to work up options by the Treasury.

Other options include offering a smaller number of free hours for two-year-olds, an offer of 10 free hours for disadvantaged one-year-olds, and adjusting the ratios for childcare providers to allow adults to look after more children.

It comes after Labour signalled it would make a transformational offer to parents at the next election, with the shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, pledging a modern childcare system that works from the end of parental leave until the end of primary school.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has also called for billions to be spent on extra free childcare and reform of the system, while a group of influential Tory backbenchers, led by Siobhan Baillie, is pushing Hunt to cut childcare costs at next month’s budget.

The current free provision in England is 30 hours a week for working parents of three-year-olds unless one parent earns more than £100,000 a year, while provision for two-year-olds is limited to 15 free hours a week for those whose parents claim some benefits. Schemes are funded and set up differently in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

The Treasury requested the work from other departments as part of its drive to get more people into employment, including young people, new parents and the recently retired. The Department for Education is understood to be feeding into the “inactivity”