Childcare scheme ‘won’t help poor’
A SCHEME to help working families with childcare costs has been slammed for punishing stay-at-home parents.
Critics also claimed it does too little to help the poorest.
The £1.4billion initiative, launched with great fanfare yesterday by David Cameron and Nick Clegg, will give 1.3 million families up to £1,200 a year for each child under five.To qualify for the handout, worth a fifth of average care costs, both parents or the lone parent must earn less than £150,000 a year.
Those on benefits would not qualify as they already get help through tax credits.
Introduced from late 2015, after the next general election, it will replace the existing Employer Supported Childcare voucher scheme.
But there was concern yesterday that 1.2 million families with a stay-at-home parent will not qualify.
Last night charity Working Families warned that, unlike ESC vouchers, the new system would not help couples where one partner is studying or training, or has been made redundant and is seeking work. Chief Sarah Jackson said: “It is important that families in these situations don’t lose out, and that support is available to those trying to get back into work.”
Neil Leitch, of the Pre-School Learning Alliance, said: “This seems to be more about pushing parents back to work rather than providing real childcare choices.”