Help needed to ‘make childcare affordable for parents’

Employees who have children need more support from the government so that childcare becomes affordable.

That is according to the Daycare Trust, which has suggested that while parents are entitled to up to 80 per cent of their childcare via tax credits, they are often unaware of their entitlements.

A spokesman for Daycare Trust explained that the treasury was in the process of reviewing tax credits and that there is a scheme to trial paying 100 per cent of childcare for those most in need of financial support.

The spokesman said: “Overall the cost [of childcare] continues to rise. It’s clear that the government need to do more to make childcare affordable for parents.”

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He explained that there were parents who were prevented from entering the workplace because they would have issues paying the remaining 20 per cent of childcare.

According to the Childcare Costs Survey 2009 the annual cost of a nursery place for a child aged under two is £8,684 in England.