Children: Day Care

(asked on 30th January 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what childcare support is available for children whose parent enters a women's refuge.


Answered by
Nadhim Zahawi Portrait
Nadhim Zahawi
This question was answered on 2nd February 2018

Parents who enter into a refuge will continue to be eligible for 30 hours like any other working parents, provided they work and earn the weekly minimum equivalent to 16 hours a week at their National Minimum Wage. [1]In addition, provision is made within the Statutory Guidance for parents who have been forced to leave their home and paid employment, for example, where the parent is a victim of domestic abuse or other serious crime, to retain their childcare place for longer than other parents.

There is also a range of other childcare support available for parents who enter a women’s refuge. All three- and four-year-olds, and some disadvantaged two-year-olds, are eligible for 15 hours a week of free early education. And, working parents with children under 12 (or under 17 for disabled children) are eligible for Tax- Free Childcare (TFC). TFC allows a parent to open an online account to pay for registered childcare. The government will top-up the money a parent pays into the account; for every £8 paid in, the government will add an extra £2. A parent can receive up to £2,000 per child (and up to £4000 for a disabled child). In addition, Universal Credit provides support with up to 85% of childcare costs, with the maximum limits of £646 for one child and £1,108 for two or more children.

[1] Early education and childcare Statutory guidance for local authorities, page 11, para A1.18, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/596460/early_education_and_childcare_statutory_guidance_2017.pdf

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