Unemployed parents ‘more deserving of free childcare’

UNEMPLOYED parents deserve free childcare more than working families, the chairman of the education select committee has said.

Robert Halfon, a former minister, said children from deprived families with non-working parents were more in need of childcare than those with well-off working parents. Under the Government’s flagship scheme, parents in England with a combined income of up to £100,000 are entitled to 30 hours of free childcare for three and four-year-olds. But Mr Halfon said that this set-up “does not capture society’s most disadvantaged families”.

Giving a keynote address at the launch of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s report into poverty in the UK, he described the best ways to achieve social mobility.

“First, we could help foster parents. The exclusion of fostered children from the additional 15 hours of free childcare for three and four-year-olds in England is indefensible,” he said.

‘By dropping the eligibility cap to £65,000 from the existing £100,000 mark, we could free up £150m’

“Foster carers raise some of society’s most vulnerable children, many of whom would benefit from high-quality childcare, which would help boost social development.”

Mr Halfon said this could be funded by reducing the threshold for parents to claim tax-free childcare. For instance, by dropping the eligibility cap to £65,000 from the existing £100,000 mark, we could free up £150 million, which would easily cover the additional outlay,” he said.

“In time, we should also reduce the similarly generous earnings cap for the 30 hours of free childcare that is available for three and four-year-olds. And we should channel this to non-working parents, whose children need it more.”

Mr Halfon said that not enough is being done to address “social injustice” that is “endemic in every part of our education system”.

His comments come just days after the Government’s social mobility adviser announced he was quitting, as he claimed that ministers are failing to make the “necessary progress” to “bring about a fairer Britain.