Following the Government’s announcement for a tax-free Childcare scheme worth up to £1,200 per child for working parents the Swindon Labour Group’s Shadow Lead for Children’s Services, Councillor Cindy Matthews, has urged the Council to increase take-up of an existing government childcare scheme.
Following the Government’s announcement for a tax-free Childcare scheme worth up to £1,200 per child for working parents the Swindon Labour Group’s Shadow Lead for Children’s Services, Councillor Cindy Matthews, has urged the Council to increase take-up of an existing government childcare scheme.
The Government have announced that they will phase in childcare taxbreaks from autumn 2015 and will be open to all working families with children under 12. From the first year of operation, all children under 5 will be eligible and the scheme will build up over time to include all children under 12. To be eligible, families will need both parents in work (or one parent in work if it is a single parent household), with each earning less than £150,000 a year, and will not already receive support through tax credits and later, Universal Credit. They will receive 20% of their yearly childcare costs.
In 2010 the Coalition Government announced that they would provide funding for all 3 and 4 year olds to receive 15 hours of free childcare per week- equivalent to £7.767m worth of funding for Swindon in 2012/13. However a report going to Swindon’s Cabinet on 20th March makes clear that the Council is underspending on this early years childcare service by £641K, equivalent to 9% of the Council’s overall allocated funding from the government, as a result of low take-up of this free offer from Swindon parents.
The Swindon Labour Group is urging Swindon Borough Council to do more to ensure all parents are aware of this free childcare offer so that they use the service.
Councillor Cindy Matthews, Labour’s Shadow Lead for Children’s Services, said:
“While I would welcome any government announcement of further support to families for childcare, it is really important that the existing childcare support already available to parents, such as free 15 hours’ worth of childcare for all 3 & 4 year olds per week, is being fully taken up.
Universal early year’s childcare provision is such a valuable resource both for families who struggle to meet the cost of such provision and for the children who get the educational and social benefits of universal childcare.
It is disappointing that the Council hasn’t managed to get all parents to take-up this free childcare support. One reason I think why parents may have not taken up this Council provided service is because 15 hours of free childcare isn’t enough for parents who both have jobs. Another reason may be that not all parents were made aware of this service and therefore haven’t enrolled their child in to the service. Either way it seems a great shame that £640K of public money allocated for early years childcare hasn’t been used for this purpose.”
Cllr Cindy Matthews
Swindon Labour Shadow Lead for Children’s Services & Education