Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to support low income families with children under five years of age in England.

The government is committed to supporting families. This April, the National Living Wage will increase by 4.4% to £7.83, this is equivalent to a pay rise of £2,000 for a full-time worker on the NLW since its introduction. The government is also helping families retain more of what they earn by raising the personal allowance. Successive increases mean that a basic rate tax payer will be £1,075 better off in 2018-19 than in 2010-11. Additionally, to help working parents with the costs of childcare the government is introducing Tax Free Childcare, providing support of up to £2000 per year for each child. The government is also doubling the free childcare available for 3 and 4 year olds to 30 hours a week for 38 weeks a year (or 570 hours per year), saving families in total around £5,000 a year per child. This is on top of the introduction, in 2013, of an entitlement to 15 hours a week of free childcare for the most disadvantaged 2 year olds (for 38 weeks of the year).