Children: Day Care
(asked on 16th October 2017) - View Source
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 11 September 2015 to Question 8179 on children: day care, what recent assessment he has made of the link between the introduction of tax-free childcare and (a) the cost and (b) demand for childcare.
The Childcare Choices website brings together all the government’s childcare offers into one place for the first time. It is the starting point for parents to find out about what government support they might be entitled to. Since its launch in March 2017, the website has over 1 million unique visitors. Parents can follow a link from Childcare Choices to the childcare service to apply for 30 hours free childcare and/or Tax-Free Childcare. From Childcare Choices they can also use the Childcare Calculator to work out which offer is best for them.
Since the childcare service was launched in April, over 216,000 30 hours eligibility codes were generated for children who will be eligible for 30 hours free childcare in the autumn term, and Tax-Free Childcare accounts have been opened for more than 155,000 children. Whilst the majority of parents have applied with no issue, some parents have experienced difficulties. HMRC have apologised to those parents and are working with National Savings & Investments (and their supplier Atos) to make a range of improvements to the childcare service. HMRC have arrangements in place to ensure that no parents miss out financially as a result of these issues.
In relation to the numbers of childcare providers signed-up to deliver Tax-Free Childcare I refer the honorable member to my response to Parliamentary Question (105541) on 16 October 2017.
To date, 14% of successful applicants for Tax-Free Childcare are self-employed or have a partner who is self-employed. These are people who would otherwise not have acess to supported childcare.
A study into the feasibility of measuring the impact on the labour and childcare market impacts of Tax-Free Childcare was published in February 2016 and can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/feasibility-study-into-evaluating-the-labour-and-childcare-market-impacts-of-tax-free-childcare-and-the-free-early-education-entitlement. The Government has committed to carry out a post-implementation review, two years after the implementation of Tax-Free Childcare to evaluate the impact of the scheme, including on the childcare market.
The parent application, account and helpline for Tax-Free Childcare are delivered by National Savings & Investments, working their supplier Atos. The arrangements for performance management of National Savings & Investments, including the performance of the childcare service, were described in response to a Parliamentary Question (105683) on 16 October 2017.
The Director General for Transformation at HM Revenue & Customs, provided information on compensation arrangements in a letter to the Chair of the Treasury Select Committee on 4 October, found here:
As announced at Budget 2016, Employer Supported Childcare schemes will close to new entrants from April 2018.