Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst, Member of Parliament for Solihull West & Shirley, met with Lisa Whitehouse, owner of Tender Years Nursery, at her business in Lyndon, to discuss the impact of the Autumn Budget.
Parents are set to face widespread increases in early years fees, restrictions on access to funded places, and the permanent closure of early years settings unless the Government takes urgent action. The Government must look to protect the sector from the impact of recent changes to employer National Insurance contributions (NICs), national minimum wage increases, and the financial burdens of the new Employment Rights Bill.
As of April 2025, employer NICs will increase from 13.8% to 15%, with the per-employee threshold at which employers start to pay National Insurance reduced from £9,100 to £5,000 per year. At the same time, the national living wage will increase by 6.7% for employees aged 21 and over, whilst the national minimum wage will rise by 16.3% for 18-20 years olds and 18% for under-18s and apprentices.
Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst MP said:
I was delighted to meet with Lisa at Tender Years Nursery, a family-run business which has served the constituency for 34 years and supported local families with quality childcare.
The meeting at Early Years Nursery confirmed that the changes announced by the Chancellor could have a catastrophic impact on the early years sector. It risks additional costs to hard working parents, making childcare more expensive. The spiraling costs of childcare may well result in some parents being forced to give up work in order to stay at home to look after their child. It is time for the Government to change its course before my constituents are made worse off by their political choices.
Lisa said:
We were pleased to welcome Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst MP to the nursery last week. Solihull boasts some great quality childcare and we enjoyed sharing and celebrating what continues to make us successful as one of those providers in what will be our 34th year.
We asked Neil to share our worries about finances and reported on the Early Years Alliance findings that 95% of providers are set to increase fees if the Government fails to mitigate the combined impact of National Insurance Contribution Increases and minimum wage rises.
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