Nikita Malik is the Head of Work and Opportunity at the Centre for Social Justice.
Every working parent will be familiar with the juggle: sleepy little faces must be washed, fed, dressed, and dropped off to nursery before you clock in at your desk and begin the working day.
And it is thanks to the recent expansion of funded childcare hours in England that many of these parents (particularly mothers) have been able to do this juggle in the first place. The Office for Budget Responsibility, for example, estimates the current expansion will bring around 60,000 people into employment by 2027-28. And in 2024, 64 per cent of working mothers with children under 5 said reliable childcare helped them to work.
Perhaps this is why Bridget Phillipson’s announcement this week to expand the free childcare provision to those on Universal Credit is so troubling. Sold as a way to help more people into jobs, it ignores the fact that people on Universal Credit already have a specific childcare entitlement intended to support work.
In November 2024, 177,000 Universal Credit households received this childcare element – a relatively small share of those who could use it. The problem is not a lack of generosity, but poor design. Parents on Universal Credit generally have to pay childcare fees upfront and only get reimbursed after submitting receipts, often the following month. For low‑income households with no savings, this cash‑flow requirement is a significant barrier, and stops them from using it.
But the crucial thing about free childcare is that it should reward those who are already in paying into the system. Two parents doing similar jobs, on similar wages, can face very different childcare bills simply because one happens to qualify for Universal Credit, and the other does not.
The very parents struggling to pay nursery fees, and who are urged to “do the right thing” by working and paying tax, are being told they must now fund more generous childcare for others, including households where no one is in work. And it comes at no small cost. Current childcare plans already double early‑years spending to around £8 billion. Moving towards a more universal offer, including extended free hours for benefit claimants, has been estimated at up to £15 billion a year.
This is not to mention the fact that parents say nursery places are increasingly difficult to find. Expanding the hours to everyone with no fiscal spend on the early education providers will put pressure on an already difficult situation.
Parents who go out to work instil values of discipline, routine, and aspiration in their children. A Harvard study found that the adult daughters of working mothers are more likely to work themselves, hold supervisory roles, and earn higher wages. Expanding free childcare provision to those who have never worked, and may never plan to, would simply pile more pressure on the families already contributing and trying their best to hold it all together.