Childcare boost to help parents back into jobs
SWEEPING reforms to childcare funding were announced in a move to help parents return to the workforce.
Jeremy Hunt promised up to 30 hours a week of free care for eligible households in England with children as young as nine months.
The policy, which will be introduced fully by September 2025, is worth up to £6,500 a year for working families and could allow around 60,000 more parents to enter employment.
Mothers already in work will be able to increase their hours under the economy-boosting £4.9billion plan.
The Chancellor will also expand wrap-around care at the start and finish of the school day and improve staff-to-child ratios in England.
Funding
Mr Hunt told MPs: “In eligible households where all adults are working at least 16 hours, we will introduce 30 hours of free childcare, not just for three and four-year-olds, but for every single child over the age of nine months.”
“The 30 hours offer will now start from the moment maternity or paternity leave ends.
“Working parents of two-year-olds will be able to access 15 hours of free care from April 2024, helping around half a million parents. From September 2024, that 15 hours will be extended to all children from nine months up, meaning a total of nearly one million parents will be eligible.
“And from September 2025 every single working parent of under-fives will have access to 30 hours’ free childcare per week.”
Funding for nurseries providing free childcare will be increased by £204million from September, rising to £288million next year.
And parents on Universal Credit moving into work or wanting to increase their hours will have their childcare costs paid upfront.
And the maximum they can claim will rise by nearly half to £951 for one child and £1,630 for two.
England’s Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, said the measures offered a “lifeline” to families with younger children.
Shreya Nanda, of the Social Market Foundation think-tank, said: “Changes to childcare policy are overdue. The Office for Budget Responsibility estimate that it will have the biggest impact on the economy, increasing GDP by 0.2 per cent by 2027-28.”
But Labour MP Stella Creasy called the changes “economically illiterate”, as childcare providers would not be able to deliver the promised hours.