Gemma Widdowfield, 37, has been campaigning for years to get childcare costs covered upfront since returning to work after having her daughter, Poppy now 5-years-old.
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Parents on Universal Credit are entitled to claim 85% of their costs back from the Government, up to a certain amount.
But this is currently paid in arrears – meaning parents like Gemma have been forced into debt trying to find the cash.
In last week’s Budget announcement, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said from Summer 2023, parents will be able to claim the money upfront.
It’s a win for the Sun’s Make Universal Credit Work campaign which has been calling for childcare support to be paid upfront and remove barriers stopping parents from getting back to work.
Gemma, from Bedfordshire, said it will “ease the burden massively” for parents like her.
“I’m very happy that other parents sitting there now in the situation I was in won’t have to go through the financial struggles I endured by getting into constant debt to pay for upfront costs,” Gemma says.
“I honestly don’t know how I survived those five years before my daughter went to school, so I know what a huge impact receiving the money upfront will have for families.”
Gemma has campaigned for five years for change after getting into £13,500 of debt as a result of extortionate childcare fees – and is still paying £200 a month towards a £7,500 loan that made up part of her total debt.
In the height of her childcare struggles, she also had additional debt on two credit cards and an overdraft.
And she’s not alone. Single mum Nichola Salvato was forced to turn to payday loans to cover her childcare when taking a new job.
Another mum, Carly Smith, was forced to turn down her dream job because she couldn’t afford the upfront childcare costs either.
Citizens’Advice has warned that the unfair childcare rules make it harder for Brits to find work.
Childcare payment boost
The Government also announced plans to increase the amount parents can claim back by almost 50% to help more parents get in to work.
For one child the maximum will rise from £646.35 to £951, and for two, from £1,108.40 to £1,630.
Gemma said: “The cap review will massively help people like myself who live in and around the capital, where childcare is particularly expensive.
“The £646.35 cap meant I never really got 85% back – and for people in London that barely reached 50% sometimes.”
When Gemma went back to work a year after having Poppy, she paid a childminder £47.50 a day to look after her daughter four days a week.
That meant some months her bill could be as high as £902.50.
With Poppy now at school, Gemma finally feels she might be able to get back on top of her finances – but she has still had to cut back hours at her local council job to save cash on a childminder for the school drop off.
She now pays a childminder £100 a month to pick Poppy up from school – or up to £400 to a different childminder for full time care during the school holidays.
Gemma gets 85% of this cost back through Universal Credit – but says school holidays still present an issue as she needs to make sure she has the money upfront.
“I know I’ll be struggling in April, for example, as I’ll have to find £300 upfront for Easter holidays. Even though the amounts are more manageable than they were, finding that money is still hard,” Gemma says.
While Gemma acknowledges the huge help this will provide for working families like hers, she is calling for the changes to be brought in as soon as possible.
Currently the Government has not given exact dates for the expected changes, but say parents will be able to claim upfront “from Summer 2023.”
It leaves a cloud of uncertainty over the summer holidays when parents often need more childcare and face even higher costs.
“This isn’t being rolled out immediately, which is very frustrating,” Gemma says.
“The support needs to start immediately to help families.”
Previous research by Save the Children found found that struggling parents turn to working overtime, borrowing cash or relying on friends and family in order to pay the bills during school holidays.
Extra hours
Gemma is also urging the Government to roll out the free hours for children under 3 sooner than the proposed 2025 date.
Currently all children aged 3 and 4 in England receive 15 free hours of free childcare per week for 38 weeks of the year (during school term time). Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own schemes.
Some parents can get up to 30 hours free childcare a week, depending on circumstances.
Parents must earn the equivalent of 16 hours a week on average at the National Minimum Wage or Living Wage.
Families were one parent earns an “adjusted net income” over £100,000 in the current tax year are also not eligible.
In last week’s Budget announcement, Hunt said this scheme was being extended so that working parents of all children over the age of nine months are entitled to 30 free hours of childcare.
This will be rolled out over the course of the next two years, with parents of two-year-olds receiving 15 free hours from April 2024, parents with children aged 9 months up receiving 15 hours from September 2024 and all parents receiving 30 free hours from September 2025.
“I’m glad the Government seem to be making investments into early years, but the help needs to be available sooner,” Gemma says.
“If the free hours aren’t coming into effect until 2025, a whole generation is going to miss out on assistance. I don’t know why it’s going to take so long.”
The Sun spoke to mum-of-two Jordan Eley who is “totally gutted” that the free childcare hours for two-year-olds won’t come in until April 2024.
It means that Jordan, 38, and her husband, Richard, 41, face another year of struggling to pay their £750-a-month childcare bill for their two sons, which is higher than their mortgage.
She said: “I felt really upset when I heard the news that we wouldn’t get more help for another year.
“It’s a massive anxiety covering the costs and we’ve already made all the cutbacks that we can”