extended free childcare.
Politicians' promises to give parents more free childcare would leave the sector with a funding gap of hundreds of millions of pounds, exclusive new analysis shows.
After a series of announcements on extensions to free childcare schemes, data company Ceeda has delved into the detail to work out the likely costs of each of the key childcare pledges.
According to the research, which uses current hourly rates to calculate how much money each policy would need, a Tory pledge to extend free childcare for three and four-year-olds would need an additional £1.5bn. The party has promised an extra £350m for this policy, which they say would be added to with an unspecified amount from savings through universal credit and tax-free childcare. The Lib Dems have said their proposal to extend childcare to all two-year-olds would cost an extra £800m, while the Ceeda data indicates this extra cost would be £1.2bn, based on current rates of funding.
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