Petition Help Working Families With Childcare Costs

The Department for Work and Pensions states that:
"Its key aims are to help its customers become financially independent".

Rather than encouraging new parents to return to work, the current childcare legislation actually does the opposite by making the cost of childcare so expensive that, for some, returning to work after having children is just not viable.

For working couples and single parents, prohibitive costs of childcare can lead to a reliance on benefits until their child reaches school age, which can in turn lead to loss of skills and a greatly reduced capacity to become "financially independent".

Making childcare more affordable would not only help allow new parents to return to work, it would also create jobs in the childcare sector and, crucially, help fulfill the aim of the DWP.

This petition is asking for a review of current childcare legislation and a debate on ways to make childcare more affordable for working families.