The door was opened by an elderly man who was holding a baby. He was joined by a woman of similar age who was also holding a baby – this one was crying. They all looked tired.

Two more small faces peered out at me from behind them, one wearing a school uniform. The hallway was littered with shoes and bags – the type of small-child-created chaos that I was all too familiar with.

It was early April and I was canvassing for the Assembly election.

In between my mayoral duties, I had brought my son along in a pram so I wouldn’t have to choose between knocking doors and spending some time with him.

The man glanced at my very pregnant stomach and then at my son and said: “What are your plans for childcare?”

I had been asked that question more than any other on the campaign, and the truth was, it was why I was standing there.

I saw the crisis everywhere I went and it amazed me that we weren’t talking about it more.

From the women’s employment projects I visited where the lack of flexible childcare was the first issue raised, to the friends who had delayed starting a family because of their prospective childcare costs being higher than their mortgage.

I heard it from worried parents dreading another unaffordable price increase at the day-care gate.

I met mothers who had reluctantly reduced their hours, and with it, their chances of promotion.

Fathers told me they were lucky that grandparents could help out, but noted how it could strain family relationships.

Others said they wanted to stay at home with their kids, but didn’t feel supported to do so. One of the saddest letters I have received from a parent said that they were simply existing, wishing their child’s childhood away to reach a time when life was less expensive and they could finally enjoy life together.

Our broken childcare system is causing deep anguish, and it makes no economic sense.

The UK has one of the most expensive childcare systems in the world, and within the UK, Northern Ireland has the least support.

A recent survey from Melted Parents NI – a parent-led campaign group – found that childcare is costing an average of 30 per cent of parents’ take-home pay.

This figure is higher than average costs in Ireland and the overall UK average.

As one constituent wrote to me: “I am literally working just to further my career; I would be financially better off not working. Continuing to pay childcare at the rate we are paying is putting us as a family into debt.”

In Northern Ireland, we currently have no government-funded programme for childcare for those aged under three, apart from programmes provided through Sure Start in some postcode areas.

Elsewhere in these islands, they seem to recognise the importance of childcare and are making significant investments in it, while our lack of ambition, and an Executive, has led to us falling further and further behind.

Another parent wrote to me: “We both have good wages and are lucky that our mothers each take him one day a week, but even then, when we add up all our outgoings, we are just about surviving. Living paycheck to paycheck.”

While some parties have adopted the ‘30 free hours’ childcare model, scratch the surface and you find a policy that is deeply flawed.

It is certainly an easier sell on the doors, but it doesn’t work. The fees paid to providers are too low, and many providers simply cannot afford to provide the free hours. With rising costs and low fees, there is a risk that this scheme becomes notional as provision collapses.

In Northern Ireland, an Employers for Childcare survey in 2021 saw a third of the providers describe their financial position as “struggling” or “distressed”, meaning they would be focused on survival over the next year, or, in some cases, at immediate risk of closure.

We cannot force the flawed system of 30 free hours on a sector that is already struggling.

The scheme also does not have any levers for government to drive up the quality of childcare or to influence the supply of childcare provision, yet it will essentially set the price of 80 per cent of all pre-school childcare in England.

There is no point having 30 free hours if you can’t use those hours, or if costs are offset elsewhere and does not decrease your actual bill.

The scheme is inequitable in who benefits and by how much. If you can access it, it might work well for you, but an increasing number are not able to do so.

Many are facing a cliff edge with little support and children in non-working families are being disadvantaged by the way the system works.

Perhaps the only advantage of having some of the worst support for childcare in Europe, if there is one, is that we can learn from others and design a system that really works.

What if our system was child-centred and accessible? What if parents weren’t faced with the burden of impossible choices and could access high-quality, affordable and flexible childcare?

What if dedicated staff didn’t have to leave the profession in search of higher wages, having the support of a professional association and incentive to gain further qualifications?

What if we viewed childcare as economic and social infrastructure and invested in it accordingly? What if we radically changed how we valued care?

For over a year, the Alliance Party Childcare Working Group – made up of MLAs, policy advisors and researchers – have engaged extensively with parents, providers, academics and businesses.

Through this on-the-ground research and engagement with experts, we have formulated proposals for an Affordable Childcare Scheme.

Politicians tend to think in terms of election cycles, but we cannot afford to think in those terms if we are to deliver the long-term, transformational change Northern Ireland needs, particularly on childcare.

Our policy cannot be reduced to one line or entirely delivered in five years.

Any notion that there is a quick fix to this crisis – such as providing some more free hours – is not rooted in reality and demonstrates a detachment from the lived experiences of families and the sector.

In our current political context, the lack of a stable government is preventing us from making the long-term commitments required.

No one party should be able to collapse our government and hold the people of Northern Ireland to ransom, which is why we urgently need to reform our institutions.

Those who are eligible and want to form a government should be able to do so, and with ambition and determination, to get on with the job of delivery.

Another parent wrote to me recently and said: “When Stormont moves forward, please place childcare costs as an urgent item. We as a family cannot go on like this for much longer, and our fear is that I will either have to leave work and we live on one salary, or that by the time Stormont gets its act together it will be too late for us.”

We need to get back to work. Stormont needs to get its act together. We need to reform childcare.

Kate Nicholl is an Alliance Party MLA for South Belfast and is the party’s spokesperson on Early Years & Childcare.