The Chancellor has found himself a treasure chest: childcare. In his quest for full employment, it’s seen as crucial for boosting maternal employment. Helping parents with punishingly high childcare costs appeals to and supports those on modest incomes – the so-called ‘blue-collar’ voters – that Conservatives still need to woo.
Nothing quite encapsulates the modernisation of the Tory party as its growing enthusiasm for childcare. The Conservatives no longer want to be seen simply as the flag-waver for a traditional family setup. Instead, they aspire to be the party for working people. No yearning for yesteryear, but enthusiastically supporting two-earner couples that are increasingly the norm, out of choice and necessity.
Indeed, despite fiscal retrenchment, the Chancellor has dished out generous childcare subsidies, for parents on nearly all incomes. Most recipients of the new Universal Credit will have 85 per cent of their childcare costs paid for by government, higher than the 80 per cent provided under the tax credit system.
Working parents not on Universal Credit earning up to £150,000 a year with children under the age of five will, in autumn, now access Tax-Free childcare, paying for 20 per cent of their annual childcare costs of up to £10,000.
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