Free childcare: centres asked to introduce overnight service

The Foundation for Educational Services is exploring the extension of childcare services for parents who work late-night jobs and have nobody to tend to their young children.

The plan is to provide childcare for the hours of 6pm to 6am during weekdays, as well as weekends and public holidays on a 24/7-hour basis, for children under the age of three.

A preliminary market consultation prospects that three centres will be required, one in Gozo, and one in the north and the other in the south of Malta.

The centres will have to adhere to minimum space requirements to accommodate both toddlers of 12 to 36 months, and even babies of between three to 12 months.

The FES said it is gathering information regarding the feasibility of offering a childcare service outside normal working hours through the use of private contractors, during the evenings, night, weekends and public holidays.

This proposal was made in response to developments in the Maltese economy and the role of women in the labour market, to cater for families where either both parents or single-parent families have jobs overlapping with night service hours, and who have no suitable arrangements for the care of their children.

The FES, a public entity within the education ministry, currently operates 12 childcare centres across Malta, providing care to babies and toddlers aged between three months and three years. All FES-run childcare centres are registered with the Department of Quality Standards in Education and follow the National Standards for Child Day Care Facilities.

Free childcare in Malta was a flagship social reform by the newly-elected Labour government in 2013, with the percentage of under-3s in childcare shooting up from just 11% in 2014 to 31% in 2016 – the largest increase in such a cohort enrolled in formal childcare in the EU.

Extending free childcare to all is now seen as a preventive measure in addressing early school-leaving, along with providing alternative pathways for children and targeted measures to redress educational disadvantage at an early age.

Some €46 million was spent on free childcare alone in 2023. Jobsplus, which administers and finances the scheme, said that over 22,500 mothers have used the free childcare service. Almost 98% of these women are in employment, while the rest have followed education and training opportunities.

In 2013, when childcare was not free, four out of ten women were active in the Maltese labour market, whilst in the EU the rate was that of six out of ten women. Only 1,800 children were being cared for in 69 centres in the country.

In 2023, more than seven out of ten women were active in the Maltese labour market, whilst the rate in the EU is that of seven out of ten women; some 8,960 children were attending for free at one of 188 childcare centres in 2024.