Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has pledged to scrap the £100,000 per-parent earnings threshold for 30 hours of free weekly childcare, a policy she says would remove a "cliff edge" that penalises higher earners. The announcement came on the eve of the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham this weekend.
Under the Conservative proposals, all parents working 16 or more hours a week would qualify for 30 hours of free childcare, regardless of individual earnings. Currently, families with young children where both parents earn below £100,000 annually are entitled to the benefit, but lose it if either parent exceeds that figure.
Policy cost and funding source
The Tories estimate the policy would cost £700 million annually. Party officials claim this could be financed by cutting the number of civil servants working at arms-length bodies. Around £1.6 billion could be saved by the end of the decade through job reductions at organisations such as Arts Council England and the Environment Agency, according to party officials. NHS bodies would not be included in the cuts, the Conservatives said.
Mrs Badenoch branded the current system "absurd" and a deterrent to working harder. "Conservatives believe you shouldn't be punished for working more, but this childcare cliff edge does exactly that," she said.
Badenoch's personal experience
Speaking as a mother of three, Mrs Badenoch said she had faced the same choices many families make regarding work and childcare. "Those choices are difficult already, Government should not be making them harder," she added. "No-one should be turning down a promotion or a pay rise because they cannot afford to earn more."
She highlighted the disproportionate impact on women: "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
A Labour Party spokesperson responded: "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 they set the thresholds in the first place."
The spokesperson added: "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."
