Rishi Sunak didn’t mention childcare once in his spring statement – does he think parents didn’t notice?

You would have to be a) living under a stone or b) a millionaire who doesn’t watch the news, to have missed that there’s a cost-of-living crisis blighting Britain. And the poorer you are, of course, the harder you’re hit.

In Rishi Sunak’s spring statement, setting aside the obvious need to reverse the cut in universal credit, there was one glaring missed opportunity: doing something –  anything! – about the horrific cost of childcare. It is remarkable that in the document published alongside the chancellor’s speech, the section devoted to helping families fails to mention children or childcare entirely. Not a single mention. Nada!

For families – and especially those mums in the red wall who are likely to decide the next election – this will be a bitter blow. The fees they are asked to pay for nurseries and other settings if they choose to work are eye-watering.

The cost of childcare in Britain – together with the way government benefits help the middle classes (30 free hours for three and four year olds) – is a national disgrace. Parents are now paying 2.5 per cent more for childcare for children under two; 2 per cent more for children aged two; and 3.5 per cent more for three to four-year-olds than they were just a year ago, according to the children’s charity Coram.

It would be hard to intentionally design this system to punish poorer parents even more. The 30 free hours is only available to those who work. And because of the way this subsidy is arranged, it allows wealthier middle-class parents to top up those fees and therefore afford the most expensive private nurseries.

Hence it bakes in educational advantage from a very young age – putting a big brake on social mobility for the youngest – say charity the Sutton Trust. Access to high-quality early years education is one of the surest predictors of future success.

To keep up to speed with all the latest opinions and comment sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter by clicking here

Two simple things could be done about this massive problem. First, increase the hourly subsidy of 30 free hours, thus reducing the advantages associated with being able to afford to top up. Secondly, extending the offer to a much greater spread of parents, possibly even making it universal. These interventions would be costly but not prohibitively so. Both changes would go a very long way in easing the pressure on those seeing their household budgets going into the red.

For reasons I cannot truthfully explain, the cost and provision of childcare has never been a huge political issue in Britain. It’s inexplicable, really. But with the cost-of-living crisis now expected to bite for longer and deeper than anyone could have expected – courtesy of Vladimir Putin – this is about to change.

If I were Labour, I would make this issue front and centre of its attacks on the government. Ordinary people who are watching their already limited cash disappear before their very eyes know it’s a huge problem.

It’s about time politicians tried to do something about the exorbitant cost of childcare in this country. Our future depends on it.

Ed Dorrell is a director at Public First