Background to the UK(England)1) Government’s Recent Expansion of Free Childcare and Issues Surrounding the Reform

Abstract

The UK, one of the countries where childcare costs are among the highest in the world, recently announced plans to gradually implement a comprehensive reform of its funded childcare system over the next two years. The reform aims to alleviate the financial burden of childcare on parents and to create more employment opportunities for mothers who, unable to afford childcare services, have largely remained out of the labor market. To this announcement, however, parents and frontline childcare providers alike, so far from welcoming it, responded with a voice of concern over the potential adverse impact of the reform. This article examines the policy backdrop behind the UK government’s plan to expand its funded care and then discusses some of the debated issues surrounding the proposed reform and their implications for Korea’s free childcare, especially as regards working women who are mothers.