Childcare ‘still expensive and inaccessible’
MPs are warning that the lack of affordable, good quality childcare is the main barrier to work for parents and may mean the Government will not be able to achieve its target of halving child poverty by the end of the decade.
The House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee warned that despite the introduction of the National Childcare Strategy and the substantial growth in childcare, parents still find it ‘expensive and inaccessible’.
The Committee welcomed the Government’s funding for a further 250,000 childcare places and for Children’s Centres in disadvantaged areas but stated that ‘this did not go far enough’.
The report highlights that parents, especially those who are brining up children on their own or are on benefits, cannot afford the average £128 a week (£7,000 a year) average cost of childcare.
The MPs claim that parents who do want to work and get off benefits are restricted by the high cost of childcare.
The report welcomes the targeted help to the 20% most deprived wards in the country but stated that it was concerned that there still significant gaps in provision in areas of deprivation. The Committee stated that most low-income households live outside the 20% most deprived wards that are being given targeted help
The Committee was ‘extremely concerned’ that low-income parents in rural areas and in pockets of deprivation in towns and cities outside the 20% most deprived wards are not benefiting sufficiently from expanded childcare provision.
The Committee of MPs recommended that the Childcare Tax Credit is adjusted to allow a reduction in the hours a second earner in a couple needs to work to qualify for Childcare Tax Credit, a reduction in the qualifying hours for Working Tax Credit, and increasing the percentage of childcare costs covered.
The Committee also recommend that further action be taken to deal with the regional variations in childcare costs.
