Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits of enabling childcare costs to be paid directly to providers through universal credit.

The Government recently submitted its response to the Work and Pensions Select Committee’s follow-up report into Universal Credit: Childcare which sets out an assessment of the position in relation to payments direct to childcare providers. The response will be published in due course.

Universal Credit is paid in a single monthly amount directly into people’s bank accounts, giving them control over their own money and making the move into work easier.

The Government is committed to supporting parents with moving into work and, as part of this, we have increased the level of support for childcare costs from 70 per cent in legacy benefits to up to 85 per cent in Universal Credit. The Universal Credit childcare policy aligns with the wider government childcare offer, which includes free childcare hours and tax free childcare. This offer means that reasonable childcare costs should not form a barrier to work.

Where upfront childcare costs or deposits may prevent a claimant from starting work, jobcentres will use the Flexible Support Fund to support the transition into work. When parents have good reason for late reporting of their childcare costs, the Department is piloting a more flexible approach to enable parents to be reimbursed at a later point.

Since February 2018, Universal Credit claimants have been able to upload digital copies of their childcare cost receipts or invoices through their online Universal Credit account.