 |
answer text |
<p>The government has no plans to extend the early learning for two-year-olds programme.
However, the government does have a range of offers available to support parents with
care for children under the age of 12 (or children with disabilities until the age
of 17). The government is already supporting working parents of two-year-olds with
middle or higher incomes. We have also introduced Tax-Free Childcare, which will be
available to around 1.5 million households to help pay for childcare costs. Parents
can also claim up to 85% of their childcare costs through Universal Credit.</p><p>
</p><p>In September 2017, the government introduced 30 hours free childcare for working
parents, which gave parents who qualified an additional 15 hours a week of free childcare.</p><p>
</p><p>In September 2018, the department published an independent year one evaluation
of 30 hours[1]. The evaluation showed that 30 hours is making a real difference to
family finances with the majority of parents reporting that they had more money to
spend (78%).</p><p>Over a quarter of mothers said, they had increased their hours
and more than one in ten (15%) stated they would not be working without the extended
hours. These effects were stronger for lower income families.</p><p> </p><p>The study
also showed that over half (51%) of providers increased staff hours or number of staff
to deliver extended hours.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>[1]<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/629460/Evaluation_of_early_implementation_of_30_hours_free_childcare_.pdf"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/629460/Evaluation_of_early_implementation_of_30_hours_free_childcare_.pdf</a></p><p>
</p>
|
|
