Rishi Sunak’s wife’s business links tell the story of Britain’s broken childcare system
R ishi Sunak is being investigated over a potential breach of rules for failing to declare the financial interest of his wife, Akshata Murthy, in Koru Kids, one of six childminder agencies that benefited from a policy change in last month’s budget.
Whether or not Sunak broke the rules by failing to declare his wife’s interest will be decided by parliament’s commissioner for standards. But beneath this technocratic tale of government bureaucracy is a much deeper story about the depletion of Britain’s childcare infrastructure over a decade of austerity, the proliferation of childcare apps, and the enrichment of those who have stepped in to fill gaps in provision.
Koru Kids is one of many digital sites to emerge in the past five years, positioning themselves as “technofixes” to Britain’s childcare crisis. Through their digital matching service, these apps – which also include Bubble, childcare.co.uk and care.com – allow parents to book a childcare worker online, by the hour.
Bubble and childcare.co.uk lean more towards an “on-demand” model, where parents can recruit a worker at short notice and sporadically. Others, like Koru Kids, focus more on regular arrangements – similar to an agency, but with less oversight: they do not directly match workers with clients and are not responsible for the terms of the contract.
As any parent or guardian knows, childcare in this country is unaffordable and often inaccessible. Local authorities have the power to provide cheap or free services, but budget cuts mean that in practice, provision is minimal. Only half of councils in England have enough childcare places to meet the demand of full-time working parents.While Scotland and Wales have slightly more free childcare provision, it is still
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