The scheme would be run in a similar way to student loans and all working parents where the main earner is on £12,000 or more with children under school-age would be eligible.
The SMF sets out how the National Childcare Contribution Scheme (NCCS) would work in its report A Better Beginning.
The key features would be:
Co-author of the report SMF director Ian Mulheirn said, ‘Childcare costs impose a huge burden on families for a relatively short period of time.
‘This has a real impact on families’ household budgets and can mean that it’s simply not viable for some parents to go to work, despite the real benefits to both their earning power and their children’s development offered by formal childcare.’
The SMF carried out a poll with YouGov of 502 parents with a child under five, which found that more than a quarter of parents would use the scheme if it were available.
Ian Mulheirn added, ‘The high cost of formal childcare effectively locks thousands of parents out of work each year and costs are set to continue to rise.
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