Veterans: Females

(asked on 23rd June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what financial support is available to female veterans who require child care when they access specialist support or therapy.


Answered by
Johnny Mercer Portrait
Johnny Mercer
Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
This question was answered on 30th June 2020

The requested information is not held by the Ministry of Defence. This type of support would be provided by the Local Authority in the specific geographical area that the female veteran resided.

However, NHS England actively encourage all their providers to offer veterans flexible appointments that help them to access services (in terms of time or location) and have partnership arrangements with Armed Forces charities that can provide assessed childcare support and funding.

The Government provides a significant package of childcare support to parents and carers, including our 30 hours offer for working parents of three and four year olds which has rolled out successfully, benefiting around 600,000 children in the first two years of delivery.

All three and four year olds, and the most disadvantaged two year olds, are able to access 15 hours a week of early education. From September 2017, the Government doubled the childcare entitlement for working parents of three and four year olds to 30 hours per week.

The Government also offers Tax-Free Childcare for every £8 parents pay their provider via an online account, the government will pay £2 up to a maximum contribution of £2,000 per child each year, for children under 12. There is also support available for parents with childcare costs outside of the free early education entitlements for lower income families. For example, eligible families can get help with 85% of their childcare costs through Universal Credit, subject to a monthly limit of £646 for one child or £1,108 for two or more children.

Further information on all Government childcare offers can be found at the following link: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/

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