Source · Select Committees · Education Committee
Recommendation 16
16
Accepted in Part
Paragraph: 99
Conduct fundamental review of tax-free childcare and launch public awareness campaign
Recommendation
The Government must do much more to ensure the support available for tax-free childcare is better understood and easier to access. We recommend HM Treasury conduct a fundamental review of tax-free Childcare with a view to making it simpler and easier to use and ensure it is delivering effectively for eligible families. In doing so it should carefully analyse why so many parents who have gone to the trouble of setting up an account do not the use it and seek to monitor ongoing take up and usage of the scheme. Following this review and any changes to the system, the Government should launch a large scale public campaign to improve awareness.
Government Response Summary
The government has committed an additional £1.2 million to an ongoing Childcare Choices marketing campaign to improve awareness of existing support. However, they do not commit to a fundamental review of Tax-Free Childcare to simplify its use, as recommended.
Paragraph Reference:
99
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government
Accepted in Part
7. To support families with the cost of childcare, we continue to deliver the existing mixture of entitlements and additional support. This includes the early education entitlements for disadvantaged 2-year-olds and all 3- and 4-year-olds, as well as support via Tax-Free Childcare and Universal Credit childcare support. So that every parent across the UK can access the support they are entitled to, the Government committed an additional £1.2 million to support the ongoing Childcare Choices marketing campaign to drive awareness and engagement with the Childcare Choices website, by bringing together in one place the support available through Universal Credit, TFC, and DfE’s 15- and 30-hours early education entitlements.