Koru Kids CEO Says UK Childcare Needs Rethink

Women have borne the brunt of the pandemic both at work and home. Fact. But now, with spiralling childcare costs and lack of effective government support for childcare services, parents and carers are under pressure like never before, Maria Coole reports for Marie Claire. New Zealander Rachel Carrell, founder of London-based childcare service Koru Kids, is urging the UK government to rethink their strategy and heavily invest in the childcare sector or the economy will suffer as a consequence.

Carrell highlights the worrying gap in wrap-around care for schoolchildren and in research, by Koru Kids in April 2021, uncovered parents’ concerns about this. The Independent newspaper also reported on the findings, with correspondent Maya Oppenheim writing that the research finds 45 per cent of mothers are currently working below their pay grade and expertise to ensure work can fit around school hours.

With obvious holes in childcare provision and mainly women having to plug the gaps, Carrell is adamant that a male-heavy government was more concerned with saving pubs and football during the height of the pandemic than supporting a crisis-hit, cash-starved childcare sector, Coole writes for Marie Claire.

“Imagine if we funded childcare so childcare costs for parents are a few hundred pounds a year instead of thousands. Imagine if we built a system that worked for single parents, children with special needs, parents who work irregular hours,” Carrell says.

Original article by Maria Coole, Marie Claire, May 1, 2021.