6 August 2018
Call for evidence - Universal Credit and childcare costs
The Work and Pensions Committee is calling for evidence in the latest strand of its ongoing inquiry into Universal Credit, on childcare costs.
The Committee is inviting evidence from any and all interested parties on any or all of the following questions. Evidence submitted will be incorporated into the conclusions of this phase of the inquiry:
- How does access to childcare support under Universal Credit compare to the legacy system and the new Tax-Free Childcare system?
- Is the available support sufficient to cover locally available childcare costs? Does it reflect actual childcare costs and if not, how should it be updated?
- How do upfront payments and the structure of reimbursements under UC affect low-income parents, including in their decisions to access childcare and take up work?
- How is monthly reporting and assessment working in practice and how could it be improved?
- Are existing sources of support—including the Flexible Support Fund and budgeting advances—available to low0income parents faced with upfront childcare costs adequate? If not, why not?
- Are claimants made aware of the support made available to them and are work coaches adequately trained to give appropriate guidance on this issue?
- How could the Government improve the system for supporting low-income parents’ access to support for childcare under Universal Credit?
If you wish to submit evidence to this strand of the inquiry, the deadline to do so is Wednesday 5 September 2018.
More information is available on the Parliament UK website.
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