Plans for additional childcare support will help women progress in their careers, says the Secretary of State for Education, Gillian Keegan, who visited the county yesterday.
The government is in the process of rolling out its childcare plan, which could save working parents using 30 hours of childcare up to an average of £6,500 per year.
A total of £100million is being made available for local areas to use to ensure childcare facilities have enough space for the expansion, and councils are set to receive details of their allocation of a £289million wraparound childcare fund, which will ensure families of primary school children can access childcare from 8am to 6pm.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Gillian Keegan met with working parents at Greene King in Bury St Edmunds to discuss the upcoming changes.
"I think the general reaction is 'when does it start, how quickly can I get it?'" Ms Keegan said.
"Childcare now is a big cost, it's a huge cost, because a lot of people do want to go back to work and some people were saying its nearly as much as their mortgage, so it's going to make a massive difference."
From April 2024, working parents of two-year-olds will be able to access 15 hours childcare support.
And from September 2025, working parents of children under the age of five will be entitled to 30 hours of childcare a week.
The minister said she wants to ensure women don't have to fear re-joining the workforce after having a baby, should they wish to.
Ms Keegan said: "I've seen it so many times - women do brilliantly in school, they are normally top of all the exams, they do brilliantly at university, they normally get fantastic starter jobs and then when you look 10 years or 15 years later its kind of often plateaued.
"That is because a lot of the childcare falls to women, to the mum, and it means they never really reach their full potential quite often.
"We just want to make sure that all these brilliant women get the chance to shine all the way through their career."
She said better early years childcare provisions will also benefit children, particularly those with SEND as it will enable earlier diagnoses.
Nick Mackenzie, CEO of Greene King, said: "The challenge people have about getting back into work is real, particularly around childcare.
"We as a company try really hard to deliver flexible working and opportunities for people to get back into work but having the financial support through government to allow them to do that I think is a real positive."
An eligibility checker is now live where parents can check what support will soon become available to them and sign up for updates.
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