Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an assessment of the effectiveness of the childcare payment support element of Universal Credit on the ability of claimants of Universal Credit to access 30 hours of fee childcare in areas where it has been rolled out.
No assessment has been made on this specific issue. Support for childcare costs, on top of the 30 hours free entitlement, is available through Universal Credit. Up to 85% of costs are within scope, in contrast to 70% in tax credits.