Childcare Bills Boosted by £300 million
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October 7, 2011 TheFreshOutlook  |
The work and pensions secretary has revealed plans on Friday to scrap the minimum working hours rule for childcare support.
Work and Pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith has announced plans to make parents working less than 16 hours a week eligible for childcare support.
To be initiated in 2013, alongside the launch of the government’s Universal Credit System, the current working hours threshold will be removed, enabling any low income parent to become eligible for support.
After pledging £300 million to the scheme, the proposed changes are expected to benefit 80,000 families currently stuck on benefits.
Speaking of the change Mr Smith commented: “We are determined to help more parents take their first steps into work, but under the current minimum-hours rule parents are trapped in state dependency without the childcare support they badly need – providing yet another barrier to work.”
Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group, Alison Garnham, spoke of the increase in support eligibility: “This is a very welcome decision that will make a big difference to many parents, especially those with young children wanting to take the first steps back into work … It shows the deputy prime minister and [the] work and pensions secretary are listening to families and recognising that it makes economic sense too.”
She added: “Even after this extra help, we know that many parents will be struggling to stay in work following the chancellor’s cuts to childcare support earlier this year … With the threat of another downturn, keeping parents in work must be a top priority, so extra support with childcare costs should be at the heart of his strategy for growth at the next budget.”
The cutting of childcare support from 80% to 70% per week earlier this year has brought fresh criticism by opposition parties in light of new investment in the scheme.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Liam Byrne said: “Today’s announcement is frankly smoke and mirrors … It won’t mean a penny more help for parents already struggling on childcare tax credits.”
Adding: “Universal credit is now set to lock in a ‘parents’ penalty’ that cuts back childcare payments so hard that many parents will be forced to give up work.”
In addition, a leading group of family and poverty organisations expressed their concern that the proposed Universal Credit Scheme “still amounts to a significant reduction in support for the poorest families who currently receive 95.5% of their childcare costs through housing benefit”.
Speaking to The Fresh Outlook, Cherie Roberts, owner of Darling Buds Nursery in Cardiff said: “To keep up the standards childcare has to keep up the costs that it does.”
When asked about the government’s cuts this year, she commented: “They shouldn’t have reduced it [childcare support]. It gave very little impact on the government but a lot on the individual.”
“They’re trying to feed people with one hand by taking it away with the other,” she added.
By Laura Beard
[Image courtesy of YoAndMi]
