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<p>The government recognises the importance of families being able to access affordable
childcare, including nursery care, in allowing parents to work.</p><p> </p><p>The
government offers a range of support for parents to help with childcare costs, including
access to early education through the Department for Education’s free hours entitlements,
and financial support with childcare through Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) and Universal
Credit (UC) childcare offers.</p><p> </p><p>In addition to this support, the government
remains committed to driving down childcare costs for providers and parents. In July,
it announced a series of measures to achieve this including consulting on increasing
the number of children that can be looked after by each staff member in early years
settings; taking action to grow the childminder market; reforming the way early years
funding is distributed in England; and driving a renewed campaign to increase take-up
of UC Childcare and TFC.</p>
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