Free Childcare Reform Has ‘Little to Offer the Poorest Families’: Report

In March, the government called the changes to the subsidies a “childcare revolution.”

James Laurie, aged 8, is assisted in his online work by his mother Laurette as he continues home schooling in London, on Jan. 25, 2021. Leon Neal/Getty Images

Expansion of subsidised childcare announced by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt earlier this year does little to help poorer families, a new report has revealed.

Instead the government prioritised parents or carers who work rather than low-income families, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).