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Parents need greater clarity on Childcare
Support, say Tax campaigners
THE Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) has urged the
Government to provide greater clarity to parents on the many recent and planned
changes to Child Support.
The Tax campaigners are concerned that the childcare support landscape has
become very complex and it is difficult for parents to understand how schemes
are supposed to interact, such as Tax Credits, the planned Tax Free Childcare (TFC),
Universal Credit, Free Childcare Entitlement and Childcare Vouchers. The Tax
campaigners worry that this confusion may lead parents to make the wrong
financial decisions on which support scheme or combination of schemes to use.
LITRG have told the Government that in its response to the Childcare free
entitlement, delivery model consultation, that it is extremely concerned about
the potential impact of an increase in minimum income limits for both the
extended provision of Free Childcare and the delayed Tax Free Childcare scheme,
as announced in the Autumn Statement 2015.
Anthony Thomas, LITRG Chairman, said:- "Finding reliable, high quality,
affordable childcare is a major concern for working families. The high costs and
limited availability of childcare are 2 of the biggest challenges that parents
face. Childcare support is currently split across different schemes,
administered by different government departments and the interactions between
those schemes adds to the complexity. It is crucial that complete guidance is
available that not only explains the rules of each childcare scheme, but also
gives sufficient information to help people to choose between them and make the
right decision. This information should be updated as often as necessary. There
should also be a dedicated phone service in place that can answer questions and
provide support on the range of childcare options. Local authorities should also
have a duty to provide this wider information and the Government should provide
them with a toolkit to enable them to do so in a consistent way. Failing to
provide this information could lead to parents finding themselves in overpayment
situations with HMRC or DWP or they could make poor financial decisions and be
worse off because of them."
LITRG is concerned at how the increase in minimum income limits for both the
extended provision of free childcare and the delayed TFC scheme will impact on
parents who are self employed and those who are employed on 0 hours contracts.
While parents who are paid a higher hourly rate may indeed qualify for support
by working a low number of hours per week, those who earn national minimum wage
or national living wage will effectively have to work more hours to qualify for
the same type of support; but those extra hours may not be available to them.
Anthony Thomas said:- "We are very concerned at the potential unfairness
of the increases in minimum income limits on those with low incomes and these
ought to be addressed in order to be fair to everyone."
LITRG said it is wholly supportive of extending free childcare to 30 hours and
also of the Government's support for childcare through the Tax Free Childcare
scheme. Please email us your views on this issue to our newsroom via:-
News24@SouthportReporter.com. |
