Currently free childcare hours are only available to working parents if they are paid the equivalent of 16 hours per week at minimum wage. Students on placements often work more hours than this in a week (but as it in unpaid it doesn't count) alongside their studying and yet still have to find time to work an additional 16 hours of paid work to qualify for free childcare hours. We believe this is a huge barrier to many students with children from continuing or starting their studies.