Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will waive the repayment of the childcare element of working tax credit for working parents who lacking adequate childcare provision over summer 2020 used non-Ofsted-registered childcare to retain their jobs.

It is important that children get the best start in life, good quality childcare can help with this and we want to ensure that families have access to this.

Without a definition of standards, the quality of childcare can be variable. A consistent regulatory regime for childcare helps ensure children receive the relevant safeguarding and quality standards. This is why, to be entitled to the childcare element of Working Tax Credit, the childcare service used must be registered with the appropriate authority.

Those registered childcare providers were able to continue to provide childcare to key worker and vulnerable children throughout summer 2020.