Grandparents should be paid to care for their grandchildren, according to the Conservative party. The proposals by Tory leader David Cameron to make relatives approved carers under the working families tax credit regulations (News, 2 November) have drawn a mixed response from the early years sector.
It could be a financial boon to the nearly 5 million grandparents who spend the equivalent of three days a week caring for grandchildren - it is reported that they could earn up to 12,000 a year. But there are concerns, too, that it would come at the expense of quality, regulated childcare.
Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, said, 'Grandparents are not necessarily the best placed to provide full-time, long-term, early years care and education. There is also potential for the system to be defrauded and for some parents to abuse the system, for example by keeping the money for themselves.
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