Oral Answers to Questions

Kate Green Excerpts

Monday 16th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)]

14. What assessment he has made of the likely effects of changes in tax credit eligibility on the supply of early years and out-of-school child care.

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Sarah Teather)]

Eligibility for tax credits will change with the reduction of the earnings threshold and the increase of the minimum working hours for couples to 24 hours per week. These changes do not affect eligibility for the child care element of working tax credit. The Department does not consider that the impact of these changes on the supply of child care will be significant.

[Kate Green]

In my constituency, about 1,500 families have lost child tax credit and 465 families face the loss of working tax credit if they cannot find more hours. Parents coming to my surgery have told me that they may have to give up work and therefore their child care places as a result. What will the Government do to monitor the impact of these changes on the child care markets, particularly in areas of high unemployment?

[Sarah Teather]

As I have said, the change in hours should not have an impact on the child care element, because the hours remain the same in terms of the eligibility for the child care element of the tax credit. All local authorities have a duty to ensure that sufficient pre-school and after-school child care is available in their areas. However, we are monitoring this situation very closely and looking at capacity in disadvantaged areas, as we are rolling out a significant increase in the amount of early years education available for two-year-olds.