Rejected petition Give Welsh Parents Fair Childcare: Extend Free Hours from 9 Months, Not Just Age 3
Currently, Wales provides free childcare only from ages 2 (limited hours) and 3 (full 30 hours). England is expanding support for working families from 9 months of age, with 30 hours beginning in September 2025—offering families savings of up to £7,500 per child annually.
Extending support in Wales would:
• Help parents stay in or return to work earlier.
• Ease childcare costs that push families out of work.
• Give all UK children equal access to early education.
More details
Childcare costs in Wales are the highest in Great Britain. A full-time nursery place for an under-2 costs £15,038 per year in Wales, compared with £12,425 in England – around £2,600 more.
- Parents in England now get support from 9 months old. By September 2025, working parents in England will be entitled to 30 free hours a week from 9 months to school age, saving up to £7,500 a year.
- Wales lags behind. The Childcare Offer for Wales only provides 30 free hours from age 3–4, with limited hours at age 2 through Flying Start. Many areas cannot meet demand.
- The impact on families is severe. In Cardiff, parents report daily childcare costs of £76, making work unaffordable unless earning over £25,000 a year. Rising fees (up 10% for under-2s in 2024) push many families out of the workforce.
Why was this petition rejected?
There’s already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue, or if the Petitions Committee has considered one in the last year.
The following petition is currently open for signatures:
https://petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/246652
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards
Rejected petitions are published in the language in which they were submitted