Speaking at the Edinburgh Book Festival last week, Dr Leach (pictured) said that problems with the options currently available to parents stemmed from the fact that policymakers have never experienced the same problems themselves. She said parents need more choice.
Dr Leach's latest book, Child Care Today (Reviews: For Your Shelf, 22 April), argues that the childcare system in Britain should be based on that of other countries, such as France, where new mothers are given a monthly payment to use as a salary or pay for childcare while they return to work.
'Hardly any politicians, academics or policymakers find it necessary to leave their own infants in the first few months in less than high-quality childcare. Quite a lot of them have no idea what it would be like to have no other choice,' she said.
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