Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the effect of universal credit on people's ability to pay upfront childcare costs without incurring debt.

Universal Credit is more generous in terms of childcare costs with an increased level of support for childcare costs: from 70 per cent in legacy benefits to 85 per cent within Universal Credit.

We recognise that the upfront cost of childcare may cause some claimants financial difficulty. Consequently, the Secretary of State announced in her speech of 11 January 2019, that where the initial month’s childcare costs may prevent a claimant from starting work, jobcentres have been instructed to use the Flexible Support Fund to help smooth this transition. Furthermore, when parents have good reason for not reporting their childcare costs immediately, the Department will be more flexible to enable parents to be reimbursed at a later point.

The Government now provides more support than ever before to help parents with the costs of childcare, including providing 15 hours a week of free childcare in England for all 3 and 4 year olds and disadvantaged 2 year olds, and doubling free childcare available for working parents of 3 and 4 year olds to 30 hours a week.