Government plans to increase childcare will mean that a low-income parent stands to take home just £4 an hour after childcare costs and changes to universal credit are taken into account, according to research by two major charities.
A new joint report by Coram and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows the Government’s £4 billion plans to invest in childcare will disproportionately benefit families on higher incomes, unless the money is targeted to help the most disadvantaged children.
The plans revealed in the Spring Budget to increase funded childcare for working parents ‘risk entrenching an even less fair system’, and lead to many children missing out on high-quality early years education, the researchers say.
The Government is phasing in an extension to younger children of the current 30-hour entitlement for three-and four-year olds of working parents, starting with 15 hours of childcare for eligible working parents of two-year-olds in April 2024.
