Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 14 January 2020 to Question 1755 how many of the 530,000 three and four year olds who are ineligible for 30 hours free childcare due to their parents not meeting the income requirement are (a) in single parent families and (b) in families where parents are in couples.

In our response to question 1755, the Department for Education estimated that in January 2019, 530,000 3-4 year-olds were ineligible for 30 hours due to one or both of their parents not meeting the minimum income requirements (more than the equivalent to 16 hours a week at national minimum wage or national living wage which is currently £6,800 a year). This included families where one or both parents chose not to or were unable to work. Information about the exact number of children in each category is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

There is support available for parents with childcare costs outside of the free early education entitlements. For example, eligible families can get help with 85% of their childcare costs through Universal Credit, subject to a monthly limit of £646 for one child or £1108 for two or more children. Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit/what-youll-get. Families can also get help with the costs of childcare from the Tax Free Childcare scheme.