Badenoch pledges to end 100,000 pound childcare cliff edge on eve of Tory conference
The Conservative leader promised any parent working 16 hours a week would get 30 hours of funded care, paid for by cutting staff at arm's-length bodies.
Kemi Badenoch has pledged to scrap the 100,000 pound salary cap on funded childcare, unveiling a pre-conference offer aimed at parents caught by the cliff edge in the current system.
Under the Conservative proposal, any parent employed for at least 16 hours a week would qualify for 30 hours of funded childcare a week. Mrs Badenoch described the present rules as "absurd" and a disincentive to work more. "Conservatives believe that you shouldn't be punished for working more, but this childcare cliff edge does exactly that," she said.
At present, parents of young children can claim 30 hours of funded care provided both parents earn under 100,000 pounds a year. If one parent's income exceeds the threshold, the entire entitlement is withdrawn. The pledge, announced on the eve of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham this weekend, would abolish the limit entirely.
No one should be turning down a promotion or a pay rise because they literally cannot afford to earn more.Kemi Badenoch
Party officials calculate the policy would cost 700m pounds a year. They say it could be funded through reductions in headcount at arm's-length public bodies, with savings of 1.6bn pounds by the end of the decade from shrinking organisations such as Arts Council England and the Environment Agency. NHS organisations would be excluded from the job cuts.
Mrs Badenoch said: "No one should be turning down a promotion or a pay rise because they literally cannot afford to earn more." She added: "It is often women who end up carrying more of the childcare responsibility so a system that makes it harder for them to progress in their careers is not helping families, it is not helping women and it is definitely not helping the economy."
The party described the change as a first step in broader efforts to address issues in the tax system that damage incentives to work or invest, a theme shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith is expected to take up in his conference speech on Monday. Speaking on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Mrs Badenoch said: "What we want to see is that people who work harder don't get punished for doing so."
Labour criticised the move as favouring higher earners. A party spokesperson said: "No government has ever put so much focus or investment into the early years as this Labour Government." The spokesperson added: "It tells you everything you need to know about the Tories that the first of their own tax policies they want to unpick is one helping higher earners."
None to date. The Journal corrects errors promptly and transparently. Read our corrections policy.
