To help parents go back to work, the U.K. is expanding their free childcare. The effort is set to cover all children under five-years-old and make childcare free for working parents in England by 2025. The process will occur over three stages starting with “parents of two-year-olds [getting] 15 hours of free childcare per week from April 2024, children between nine months and two years old will get 15 hours of free childcare from September 2024, [and] all eligible under-5s will get 30 hours of free childcare from September 2025.” Ultimately the U.K. government’s plan is to boost economic growth since the rising cost of childcare has been a set back for parents to go back to work or work full time. YPulse’s research shows that 75% of Millennial parents in the U.K. say they underestimated how much it costs to raise children, a number significantly higher than other European countries. (BBC)
