Proposal for a new radical sliding scheme to help parents to pay for childcare
The proposal that is being backed by the Family and Childcare Trust will help families in poverty. As part of the ten year childcare strategy the Family and Childcare Trust want the government to introduce a radical sliding scheme. This would enable low earners to pay for their childcare needs whilst they are earning more.
The sliding scheme would allow families earning less than 16,000 to pay nothing towards childcare for 48 weeks of the year. Families earning up to 36,000 they would pay 50p per hour and for families earning over 66,000 this would rise to £4 per hour.
This scheme would mean that the government would need to increase their funding on childcare. With the state that the Childcare Bill is in at the moment can the government actually fund this extra increase?
Julia Margo, chief executive at the Family and Childcare Trust said: “Our ambitious proposal for a simplified funding system could tackle many of the barriers low income families experience when they try to access childcare and help them move into work.
“Evidence shows that sufficient funding for a high quality childcare system brings fiscal benefits in the longer term – through children’s attainment, increased maternal employment, higher tax intake and lower welfare payments.”
How will this proposed funding system work for nurseries? Would this mean a change in nurseries fee structure as families would be paying a fee per hour when assessing childcare outside of the free entitlement.
To read the report goes to https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/creating-anti-poverty-childcare-system