£75m childcare boost for families

2:28am Monday 8th September 2008

Some 50,000 low-income families across England are to be offered £205 a week to pay for childcare so parents can get training to help them back to work.

The £75 million programme will be available to couples where one parent works and the other wants to learn new skills which will help them in their search for a job.

As well as free childcare, families will receive help from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to identify appropriate training courses.

The support will be worth up £205 a week per child in London and £175 elsewhere in the country and will be paid directly to childcare providers. It will be available in the 67 local authorities with the highest numbers of eligible parents from January 2009 and extended across the country from September.

Launching the three-year Free Childcare for Training and Learning for Work scheme, Children's Secretary Ed Balls said: "We are committed to eradicating child poverty and have already lifted 600,000 children out of poverty. This new programme will help families break out of the poverty trap.

"High-quality, affordable childcare is vitally important. By making this offer we are helping parents who would otherwise find it difficult to get financial help for childcare, to gain the skills and the confidence they need to return to work."

Minister for children and young people Beverley Hughes added: "We are committed to ensuring that high-quality, flexible and affordable childcare is available to every family, to give children the best start in life and to parents to balance work, training and study, and caring for their children."

The LSC's national director of young people's learning and skills, Rob Wye, said: "Our research indicates that the costs of childcare are a major barrier to participation in learning.

"This cost represents a significant obstacle for many families throughout the country and we therefore welcome the introduction of 'Free Childcare for Training and Learning for Work'."

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