Conservative Party Proposes to Remove Earnings Limit on Funded Childcare Places
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said a Conservative government would scrap the “cliff edge” that means parents in England are no longer eligible for funded childcare hours once they earn more than £100,000 a year.
Currently households where one parent earns over £100,000 a year are not eligible for the 30 hours of government-funded childcare or tax-free childcare. They are however already eligible for the 15 hours of free childcare all three and four-year-olds are entitled to, regardless of parental income.
The £100,000 limit has been in place since 2017 and has not risen since, meaning more parents are brought over the threshold each year as wages increase.
This proposal would remove that limit entirely, making all children of working parents eligible for 30 hours of free childcare regardless of their parents’ income between the ages of 9 months and 4 years old.
Tim McLachlan, Chief Executive of National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) said: “While we welcome any support for parents to help them with the cost of childcare, any reforms must take into account that the funding from the government does not currently reflect the true cost of delivering places for 87% of providers.
Bringing more parents into funded childcare without fixing the current underfunding challenges will only put more pressure on early years providers and their workforce. Any change to entitlements needs to be properly costed and paired with adequate support to providers so that these additional funded hours can be sustainably provided”
- England
- early years
- England
- funding
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