WWW.FRONTIER-ECONOMICS.COM - EXPANSION OF 30 HOURS FREE CHILDCARE - Will it work as the Chancellor hopes?

COM EXPANSION OF 30 HOURS FREE CHILDCARE Will it work as the Chancellor hopes? Gillian Paull and Nick Fitzpatrick 24 MARCH 2023 EXPANSION OF 30 HOURS FREE CHILDCARE The Spring Budget included a £7 billion package of support to enhance labour supply, seeking to address the recent increases in inactivity among the working age population. [...] One of the cornerstones of this package was the dramatic extension of 30 hours free childcare for working parents to children from the age of nine months. [...] Critically, it bridges the gap in free provision for working families between the end of paternity leave to the start of the existing free hours when a child turns three. [...] Indeed, Frontier’s evaluation of the initial rollout of 30 hours free childcare for three and four-year-olds concluded that the main reason that most parents (especially mothers) used the free hours was to support them working. [...] Extending the free hours to younger children will have substantially reduce the ability of providers to cross-subsidise the free hours.