Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the minimum earnings eligibility criteria for the additional funded childcare entitlement on parents who are paid on a four-weekly payroll cycle; and whether she has considered changes to ensure that parents with equivalent annual earnings are treated the same, regardless of their employer's pay frequency.

Eligibility for the working parent entitlement is based on expected income for the next three months. To ensure parents continue to meet the income criteria for the entitlement, parents must confirm they still meet the income threshold.

Each parent must expect to earn at least £2,643.68 before tax if aged 21 or over (equivalent to £203.36 per week), £2,256.80 before tax if aged 18 to 20 (equivalent to £173.60 per week), or £1,664 before tax if under 18 or an apprentice (equivalent to £128 per week).

This is equivalent to the National Minimum Wage or Living Wage for 16 hours a week, on average. Parents must also not expect their income to exceed £100,000 adjusted net income per year.

If they earn income from work over the three months following an application and receive payment for this work at a later date, for example because they have a different payment cycle, they may still be eligible.