Britons should consider having more children and at an earlier age, the education secretary has said, warning of the “worrying repercussions” posed by a decline in birth rates.
Bridget Phillipson warned that plummeting birth rates were not only a concerning trend, but one which “tells a story, heartbreakingly, about the dashed dreams of many families”.
She said people were put off having children as a result of higher costs of living, saying she wants “more young people to have children, if they so choose”.
It comes after official data showed that fertility rates in England and Wales dropped to 1.44 children per woman in 2023, the lowest level since records began in 1938.
She told The Independent the UK faces “a big challenge with the very steep decline that we're seeing in the birth rate. We need to address that and that involves thinking about the practical steps that government can take to support to support people to make the choices that are right for them.”
She added: “I've heard from lots of people that the choices that they wanted to make have been constrained, in terms of when to start a family and how many children they have, by factors like the cost of childcare, housing costs, instability at work. And everything we are doing as a government, in terms of improving rights at work, measures to tackle the cost of living, but also the early years entitlement, are about ensuring that people are able to make the choices that are right for them.”
“I want to begin to tell a different story. I have always believed that politics is about giving everyone, particularly the most disadvantaged in our country, the freedom to choose their own path in life,” she wrote in the Telegraph.
“It’s why I want more young people to have children, if they so choose; to realise the ordinary aspiration so many share, to create the moments and memories that make our lives fulfilling: having children, seeing them take their first steps, dropping them off at their first day at school, guiding them on their journey into the world of work or taking them to university for the first time.”
The overall fertility rate for the UK has fallen by 26.9 per cent over the last 15 years, which means that for every two women of childbearing age, one less child is being born.
Declining birth rates in Britain comes as a result of a combination of economic factors and changing social norms.
The rising cost of living, including child care and housing, is making it more challenging for parents to afford having children. Meanwhile, women are, on average, waiting longer to have children, partly as a result of wanting to remain in the workplace.
The education secretary’s comments mark a shift in rhetoric from the government, after Sir Keir Starmer last year said it was not his place to tell people how many children to have.
But a Downing Street spokesperson insisted there had been no shift in position, saying the education secretary had been clear that “having children is a personal choice and that is entirely consistent with the prime minister’s language”.
“Having a family is a personal and individual choice and our focus is on delivering for working people through the plan for change”, they added.
Asked whether the prime minister himself is worried about falling birth rates, his spokesperson simply said the government is “focussed on raising living standards and...making working people feel better off”.
Sir Keir’s refusal to tell people whether or not they should have more children came after French president Emmanuel Macron introduced free fertility checks for those aged 18 to 25 to encourage people to have children earlier.
Nigel Farage has also urged parents to have more children, earlier this year saying Britain needed an “180-degree shift” in attitudes to reverse the decline in birthrates.
Last month, Ms Phillipson said young people had been handed more “freedom” to have more children as a result of government-funded childcare.
Since May, working parents of children who turn nine months old before September 1 have been able to apply to access up to 30 hours of free childcare per week, until their child is old enough to start school.
Ministers @bphillipsonMP and @AnnelieseDodds on how we're improving the quality and accessibility of childcare, opening up more choices for women and their families, and putting more pounds in their pockets. pic.twitter.com/XuGpFEh6fC
— Office for Equality and Opportunity (@oeogovuk) February 13, 2025
“They will be able to make choices about the career that’s right for them, the hours that they want, but also [have] the freedom to think about family size and how many children they want to have, with support from the Government around childcare hours,” she told the Daily Mail last month.
The expansion of funded childcare began being rolled out in England in April last year for working parents of two-year-olds.
Working parents of children older than nine months are currently able to access 15 hours of funded childcare a week, before the full rollout of 30 hours a week to all eligible families in September.
The Labour government announced that up to 4,000 childcare places are set to be rolled out at new or expanded school-based nurseries in England from September.
Health secretary Wes Streeting has previously said he is “anxious” about declining birth rates in England and Wales, warning that is presents “long-term demographic challenges for our country”.
“But beyond the hard-headed economics, there is also the joy and love and wonder of parents being able to have children, people being able to have children”, he added.
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