UK Conservatives propose extending free childcare to high earners

The UK Conservatives have proposed extending free childcare in England to families currently excluded because one parent earns more than £100,000 a year. The party said its plan would cost about £700m annually and would remove what it described as a sharp cut-off in support. Under the current system, families with young children can receive 30 hours of free childcare a week, but the entitlement ends when one parent crosses the income threshold, regardless of the other parent’s earnings.

Under the Conservative proposal, parents working at least 16 hours a week would be eligible for the childcare support. The party said the policy would be funded by cutting jobs at organisations including Arts Council England and the Environment Agency. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the existing arrangement was an unfair disincentive to work more.

She argued that parents should not have to turn down a promotion or pay rise because additional earnings made childcare unaffordable. Badenoch said the system particularly affected women, who often carried more childcare responsibility, and claimed that removing the barrier would help families, women’s career progression and the economy. Labour criticised the proposal.

A party spokesperson said it showed the Conservatives’ first priority was unpicking a tax policy that helped higher earners, adding that the Conservatives had created the thresholds themselves. The childcare plan was announced before the Conservatives’ annual conference in Birmingham. It followed a proposal to abolish most stamp duty on primary residences in England and Northern Ireland, a measure the source says would cost an estimated £9bn a year.

Other Conservative plans mentioned ahead of the conference include building 50,000 prison places in England and Wales and reducing overseas aid to £1bn a year. Aid groups have warned that such a reduction would not cover existing contributions to international bodies.