Wealthy families to gain eight times the advantage from the complete implementation of funded childcare hours compared to the least affluent families

The New Economics Foundation (NEF), an independent charitable think tank committed to transparency about funding, has proposed a new model for childcare that aims to provide a simpler, fairer, and more affordable solution for working families.

Under this proposed system, all children above the age of 9 months would be entitled to 15 hours of free childcare. The programme, set to be fully rolled out by September 2023, also caps the cost of additional childcare hours for working families at 5% of their earnings.

Currently, the government's expanded childcare programme offers 30 hours of funded childcare for children aged 9 months to 4 years old in families where all parents work at least 16 hours per week. However, the NEF's analysis shows that only 11% of the poorest households are eligible for the full expanded hours under the current programme. In contrast, 85% of the richest households will be able to benefit from the package.

This means that working families earning £34,000 will have to spend over 11% of their gross earnings to have one child in full-time childcare, while a family on £124,000 would only need to spend 3%. The current system, therefore, denies full access for children from the poorest households, even though they would benefit the most.

Moreover, the current system is overly complex for parents to navigate, squeezing the budgets of families already struggling with the cost of living crisis. Tom Pollard, head of social policy at NEF, stated that childcare plays a critical role in early years development and supporting parents to work, but the current programme may fail to effectively deliver on these objectives without more fundamental reform.

The NEF's proposal aims to address these issues by offering a more straightforward and equitable system. While the organization that presented this specific proposal is not explicitly named in the provided search results, discussions on childcare reforms and needs in Germany are frequently associated with the German Youth Institute (Deutsches Jugendinstitut, DJI) and government bodies such as the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs (BMBFSFJ). However, no direct mention of this specific model or proposal is found in the excerpts.

Regardless of the specific organization behind the proposal, the need for fundamental reform in the childcare system is clear. The NEF's research underscores the importance of ensuring that all families, regardless of their income, have access to affordable, high-quality childcare that supports the early development of children and enables parents to work.

Wealthy families to gain eight times the advantage from the complete implementation of funded childcare hours compared to the least affluent families