Recommendation 5

We recommend the Government amend the regulations on the use of the Flexible Support Fund so that receipts for payments made from the Fund can be submitted as if the parent had paid the childcare costs themselves. This would have the effect of removing, or largely offsetting the upfront cost, rather than simply pushing it in to Universal Credit and childcare costs 47 the next month. We note that there has been a substantial underspend in the FSF in every year of its operation to date which would contribute to the cost of this measure.