Access denied: why parents who want to work can't access childcare

This briefing outlines the barriers parents who are preparing for work can experience when trying to access childcare in England, using evidence from CPAG’s project work.

• Eligibility restrictions for extended childcare form a barrier to the labour market for many parents, particularly mothers.
• Parents who would like to move into work and parents who work fewer than 16 hours a week are currently ineligible for the 30 hours extended childcare offer, which can prevent them from preparing for work, moving into work and working more hours.
• Childcare support in universal credit (UC) is creating barriers that prevent low-income parents who are looking to move into work from accessing childcare.
• This is completely at odds with the government’s declared plan to tackle economic inactivity and support parents and carers into work, and is trapping children and families in poverty.

The government must reform the childcare system to reduce high costs and improve the quality of childcare for all families, and work towards a universal, publicly-funded system. In the immediate term, the government should:

• Extend the 30 hours free childcare offer to parents in education or training, parents actively seeking work, parents working fewer than 16 hours a week and those with no recourse to public funds.
• Reform childcare in UC to make it available to parents who are actively seeking and/or preparing for work, including undertaking training and education
• Improve and advertise access to the flexible support fund to claimants who would benefit from it.