Childcare reforms could cut costs for families by over 50%

The Northern Ireland Executive plans to subsidise over half of all childcare costs for working families by April 2032.

But it will cost around £500m for Stormont to deliver an "ambitious but realistic" childcare strategy for Northern Ireland.

That is according to Education Minister Paul Givan.

The executive has published a draft early learning and childcare strategy.

According to the strategy, the average cost of full-time childcare is £57 per day, per child, or just under £15,000 per year before any deductions or subsidies.

The strategy includes plans to provide a year of full-time pre-school for every child in the long-term and to subsidise 50% of all childcare costs for working families by April 2032.

In the longer term, young children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) will also be offered childcare and after-school provision in special schools.

In the short term, special schools will be given money to buy new equipment for younger pupils.

The strategy also highlighted the need for better pay and training for staff working in childcare.

The strategy said that the childcare workers can feel "undervalued, under-paid, and under-supported despite the complexity and importance of their role".

"We know that the sector faces significant challenges in recruitment, retention, recognition, and progression," it said.

The strategy aims to ensure all childcare staff are paid at least the real living wage - a voluntary pay rate set by the Living Wage Foundation.

From April 2026, the National Living Wage will rise to £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over.

The number of childminders and home childcare places has also more than halved over the past decade.

The strategy said that the number of registered childminders was "decreasing year-on-year, whilst the number of childcare places is remaining largely static".

The Executive had previously spent around £25m on a subsidy scheme for providers to help families with the cost of childcare.

That initial scheme was then extended to primary-school age children.

Ashley Wilkie said the reforms "would make a huge difference to so many families".

"Especially when you're out trying to work and childcare costs are eating your wages. There's lots of parents I know that have given up their jobs because they physically cannot afford to send their kids to nursery," she told BBC News NI.

"It would be better if it was sooner. If the option's there it would make it easier because you'd be able to work more."

Another parent, Sarah Hillen-Keene, said she is lucky to have family support "but certainly if we're lucky enough to have a second and had two children in childcare, I would probably have to cut my hours back".

"I don't want to give up my career, I worked hard for it, but if you're earning a wage just to pay it all out [on childcare], what's the point? It doesn't make financial sense."

"There's plenty of parents that need it now, and no harm but Northern Ireland has an awful habit of making promises and two, three years down the line nothing ever comes of it."

Síobhra Massey said in the beginning she relied on family due to the cost of childcare outweighing "the benefits of going to work".

She said subsidised childcare costs would "have helped a lot".

"We were putting our mortgage to the side because we were focused on childcare, and renting was easier," Ms Massey said.

"It's well needed and well overdue."

Hilary Adair, who is a mother and grandmother, said childcare has not got "any more affordable" since her children were young.

"There's no real financial support for women in the workplace, in my opinion," she said.

Ms Adair said she wants to help with her grandchildren but she believes "it's good for children to be mixing with children their own age too".

Givan said that 23,000 children had been registered with the childcare subsidy scheme so far, which had saved families almost £18m.

But the subsidy is currently capped at £184 a month, although parents can combine it with the UK-wide tax free childcare scheme.

The executive's programme for government had made affordable and accessible childcare a priority.

But in the foreword to the draft childcare strategy, Givan said he had been "ambitious but realistic".

"The extent to which we can do all of these and at what pace, will depend on the level of resources available to the executive over the coming years and the many competing priorities," he said.

The draft childcare strategy includes a range of short and long term actions.

A public consultation has now been launched on the strategy and the proposals to reform early learning and childcare.

It will run for 14 weeks, until 24 March 2026.