The Lagan Valley MLA said: “While any further support for families is to be welcomed, this is the absolute minimum which is required from the Education Minister.

“Families are facing rising childcare costs and while we welcomed the introduction of the Subsidy Scheme, we have always been clear that it should only be the start and should quickly be built upon to support more families, in a much more substantial way.

“This should include expanding the subsidy scheme to include school-aged children.

“We are also still awaiting the long-overdue Early Learning and Childcare Strategy, which needs to set out the wide ranging actions to develop a quality, inclusive and affordable early learning and childcare sector.

“The Executive agreed the draft budget on 19th December 2024. Within this, £50 million has been allocated to the Department of Education for supporting childcare. We are yet to get any indication of how this will be spent.

“It was also incredibly disheartening to see nearly £2 million of the previous childcare budget returned unspent by the Education Minister. This could have gone into supporting families.

“I will continue to work alongside my Alliance colleagues to ensure families and most importantly young people are at the heart of childcare policy.”