Welfare Reforms Will Penalise Working Families

High childcare costs mean the poorest parents could effectively be paying to go to work once the government’s welfare reforms are introduced, a report by the charity Barnardo’s has found. Universal Credit will only provide parents with financial support for up to 70 per cent of their childcare costs.  According to analysis by the charity, a single parent with two pre-school aged children earning the minimum wage in London will be forced to pay £1.61 more than they earn for each hour of childcare, if they work 28 hours or more a week. The same parent in Yorkshire and Humber would have to pay out 50p an hour. The report also found that lone parents with only one young child look set to lose a substantial amount of their pay, potentially only gaining an average of £1.10 an hour for each additional hour they work between 16 and 24 hours a week.  Download a copy of the report - Paying to work: childcare and child poverty – from the Barnardo’s website.