Grandparents would get £5k a year for childcare in Tory election pledge

Grandparents in Wales could be paid £4,800 a year to look after their grandchildren if the Conservatives run the Welsh government after May's Senedd election.

The party's new childcare policy would offer parents the choice of nominating a grandparent or using a registered childcare provider.

Under the plans, children aged nine months to four years old would also become eligible for an expanded offer of the existing 30 hours weekly free childcare.

Tory Senedd leader Darren Millar called the plans a "pro-family, pro-choice, pro-parent and pro-grandparent policy", and said "current arrangements" would be used to make sure the money went to grandparents who were genuinely looking after children.

The party estimates the new offer would cost an extra £98m a year.

It plans to fund it using some of the £180m a year it says the Welsh government received as consequential funding for spending decisions on childcare in England made by the UK government.

Quizzed further by James Williams on BBC Radio Wales Breakfast, Millar said his party expected 25-40% of parents to choose the grandparent option.

But he conceded "it is impossible to know what the take-up might be, but we have made some assumptions on an increase in the take-up in the childcare offer".

"Our estimates are based on reasonable assumptions," he added.

Asked earlier how the payments to grandparents would be policed, he said: "We have a system already which polices the current arrangement and people have to go through an eligibility process and update the authorities if their circumstances change.

"We would expect exactly the same with the new process."

Millar said childcare arrangements often included grandparents and that he wanted to make sure they were "properly recognised".

Parents at a soft play in Church Village, Rhondda Cynon Taf, told the BBC on Thursday that they welcomed the pledge - while some grandparents there said they think the money should would be better off being spent elsewhere.

Maddie, mum to 15-month-old Pollyanna, said: "Any childcare should be paid for, so if it's grandparents, that's a way for people to have some kind of childcare without having to pay extortionate amounts. I think it's a good idea."

Emily Carter, mum to 17-month-old Sophie, said: "I do use grandparents for childcare and they're fantastic, and it would be lovely to think they could be helped financially for that.

"But equally I think there's a bigger problem [with childcare] where parents without that opportunity need support as well."

One of the grandparents there, Bethryn Evans, said: "I do it because I want to help my family. Times are hard.

"So I wouldn't want to be paid for looking after my granddaughter in any way, shape or form."

Hayley, a grandmother to two boys, said: "[It's] a very, very silly idea, and the money should be spent on something better. It's a privilege to look after [my grandchildren], I love it and it keeps me young."

Under the current Labour Welsh government's existing offer, parents of three and four years olds can claim up to 30 hours of free childcare a week if they meet certain criteria.

A second scheme for two year olds is being rolled out across Wales.

In October, Plaid Cymru announced its own plans to expand the free childcare offer to children aged between nine months and four years.

Under the Tory plans, grandparents signed up to the scheme would be paid £200 a month per child, capped at two children per household.

Only one grandparent could be nominated per family.

Welsh Liberal Democrats leader Jane Dodds said it had "been leading the case for universal childcare for the past two years".

She added: "Universal childcare is one of the smartest investments a government can make, which is why we would fund 30 hours of childcare per week for every child aged nine months to four, supporting families and boosting workforce participation.

A Reform UK Wales spokesperson said: "Early years is so important for children, and sadly as a result of Labour in Wales and the Conservatives in Westminster, Welsh children have an almost one in three chance of living in poverty."

Plaid Cymru accused the Conservatives of policy "straight from the Liz Truss school of economics" as "the maths simply isn't adding up".

A Plaid spokesperson said their "model is undermining Wales' childcare sector, and doesn't come close to reflecting the true cost of delivering care".

"The Tories are making sweeping assumptions about families in Wales, and the availability and accessibility of care via grandparents – many of whom are themselves working or struggling with cost of living pressures."

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