Labour conference: Workless households 'missing out' on support

Julian Astle, director of Centre Forum, said the government's failure to distinguish between education and childcare meant workless households were missing out on support through tax credits.

Speaking at the Labour Party Conference fringe meeting After the crunch: How do we beat poverty? Astle acknowledged the government's recognition that the poorest families had the most to benefit from pre-school education.

But he said pre-school education and childcare had been bundled together in the government's 10-year childcare strategy.

"The problem is children in workless households are not means tested for the childcare element of the working tax credit because their parents are seen to be providing the childcare," he added. "By treating pre-school education the same as childcare, we are not getting it to those who need it most".

Astle believes the government's free entitlement to childcare for three- and four-year-olds is not a solution because state subsidies rarely cover provider costs, leaving the impetus on parents to pay fees on top of free provision.

Kate Green, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, said a lack of financial support could be disruptive for families where parents struggled to stay in work.

"There can be a situation where families get their children into good quality childcare, then lose their jobs and have to remove the child from that setting," she said. "That can be very damaging."