Parents on Universal Credit to recieve boost to childcare support
Parents on Universal Credit, with one child under 17, can claim up to £1,015 a month, with parents of two children or more eligible for up to £1,739 to help pay for childcare costs – up from £950 and £1,630 respectively.
The increase in support will help even more parents into work at a time when the cost of living remains high.
The announcement includes the expansion of 15 hours of free childcare a week for eligible working parents of two-year-olds for the first time. Up to 85% of childcare costs of parents on Universal Credit are covered.
Helping parents into work is one of the best ways to drive down the number of children living in poverty, as children living in workless households are over six times more likely to be in absolute poverty than children in a house where all the adults work.
When fully rolled out, eligible working parents, including those on Universal Credit, will receive 30 hours of free childcare from the end of maternity leave to when their child starts school.
Almost half a million families are set to benefit from the changes to the High-Income Child Benefit Charge, taking 170,000 families out of paying the High-Income Child Benefit Charge altogether with families gaining an average of £1,260 from these changes.
The threshold for the High-Income Child Benefit Charge has risen from £50,000 to £60,000.
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