Kemi Badenoch has pledged to end a £100,000 childcare “cliff edge” to stop higher earners losing their entitlement. Under the Conservatives’ proposals, all parents working 16 or more hours a week would be eligible to get 30 hours of free care a week.
Policy cost and funding
The Conservatives estimate the policy would cost £700 million a year, which party officials say could be funded by cutting the number of public servants at arms-length bodies. Some £1.6 billion could be saved by the end of the decade through reducing headcount at organisations such as Arts Council England and the Environment Agency, party officials say. NHS bodies would not be included in the savings, the Tories said.
Current rules and announcement
Under existing rules, families with young children in which both parents earn less than £100,000 a year can receive 30 hours a week of care, but lose the entitlement if one parent crosses this threshold. Announcing plans to abolish the limit entirely on the eve of Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham this weekend, Tory leader Mrs Badenoch described the system as “absurd” and a disincentive to work more.
“Conservatives believe that you shouldn’t be punished for working more, but this childcare cliff edge does exactly that,” she said. “I’m a mum of three and I’ve had to make the same choices many families have had to make on work and childcare. Those choices are difficult already, Government should not be making them harder.”
“No one should be turning down a promotion or a pay rise because they literally cannot afford to earn more. It is often women who end up carrying more of the childcare responsibility so a system that makes it harder for them to progress in their careers is not helping families, it is not helping women and it is definitely not helping the economy.”
Labour response
Responding to the proposal, a Labour Party spokesperson said: “No government has ever put so much focus or investment into the early years as this Labour Government. It tells you everything you need to know about the Tories that the first of their own tax policies they want to unpick is one helping higher earners. They clearly don’t want to admit that they set the thresholds in the first place.”
“Labour is already helping parents with 30 hours of government-funded childcare and expanding free primary school breakfast clubs, as part of our wider plan to give families more breathing space. Through our Childcare Review we will reform early years provision and further support working families.”
