My Lords, I will speak to Amendments 5, 8, 9, 11, 25, 26 and 33. This group covers a range of amendments on eligibility. I appreciate the intentions of noble Lords in laying these amendments and seeking further clarity on the definition of “working parent”. Perhaps I can clear up one point immediately, on whether a parent is someone with parental responsibility. This is defined in the Bill, in Clause 1(12)(a), which states that a,
“‘parent’, in relation to a child, includes any individual who … has parental responsibility for the child”.
The Government’s intention with this new entitlement is to support hard-working parents with the cost of childcare and to enable them, where they want, to return to work or work more. As I announced at Second Reading, parents working eight hours per week, including those who are self-employed, will be entitled to this additional provision.
The noble Earl, Lord Listowel, is well known for championing the case for support of the most disadvantaged, and he is absolutely right to do so. The Government provide a wide range of support to all families, especially the most disadvantaged. All families are of course entitled to 15 free hours of early education for three and four year-olds. Recognising that some children were missing out on the benefits of early education, we extended this to the most disadvantaged two year-olds. In particular, I know that the noble Earl will have welcomed that this includes looked-after children. We have been encouraging local authorities to ensure that as many of these children can benefit from the support that is available
The noble Earl raised the important issue of homeless families. I empathise of course with the practical challenges that such families face. Housing authorities and children’s services work together locally to ensure that the needs of children in homeless families are met. The Housing Act 1996 places a duty on authorities to co-operate with social services where children may be homeless intentionally or threatened with homelessness intentionally. However, I will be very happy to meet with the noble
Earl on this matter. The Government are committed to supporting vulnerable groups such as care leavers. Our statutory guidance makes clear that local authorities, through the pathway planning process, must assess the needs and ambitions of their young people and set out how they will support them.
Amendment 9, in the name of the noble Earl, Lord Listowel, would include parents,
“on courses to improve their literacy or numeracy”.
The noble Baroness, Lady Jones, and the noble Lord, Lord Touhig, and the noble Baronesses, Lady Pinnock and Lady Tyler, have, in separate amendments, also proposed that parents engaged in education or training or undertaking voluntary work or work experience for a minimum of eight hours per week should also qualify. As I have explained, the intention of this additional entitlement is to support working parents. If parents work at least eight hours per week, they will qualify regardless of whether they are engaged in education, training, voluntary work or additional work experience.
It may help the Committee if I explain the support that parents who are studying may already receive, in addition to the existing free entitlement. Parents who are under the age of 20 and are studying a publicly funded course are eligible for the Care to Learn scheme. This can provide vital financial support for childcare costs of up to £175 per child per week. For parents over the age of 20, discretionary learner support and childcare grants may also be available, depending on the nature of the education and training that parents participate in.
Where a child is deemed to be at risk of suffering or likely to suffer significant harm, the local authority has clear duties to investigate and to safeguard and promote the child’s welfare. This might include the provision of access to childcare provided by the local authority as part of a wider support plan.
Where a child is looked after, the local authority must make arrangements for their care, which might include support for childcare. The local authority must provide a fostering allowance which covers the full cost of caring for the child. For this reason, foster carers are not eligible for additional support through tax-free childcare or child tax credits for children who have been placed with them. We of course value the important role that foster carers undertake in looking after some of our most vulnerable children. However, whether foster care is considered work under the eligibility criteria for this additional childcare support is more complicated. I would welcome a further conversation outside the Chamber with the noble Earl on this issue.
I now turn to Amendment 25. The noble Baroness, Lady Massey, has rightly recognised the important role that grandparents play in the lives of children. In particular, some willingly and unselfishly accept the role as main carer for their grandchildren at a time in their lives that they should be able to dedicate to themselves after bringing up their own children. When grandparents have parental responsibility and meet the requirements that they are working, I hope the noble Baroness will be delighted to hear that they, too, will be eligible to benefit from the new entitlement. This will allow them to maintain their work or increase
their hours so that they can support their grandchildren, safe in the knowledge that they will be well looked after.
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The noble Baroness, Lady Jones, the noble Lord, Lord Touhig, and the noble Baronesses, Lady Pinnock and Lady Tyler, raised the question of those on flexible and zero-hours contracts. Those contracts can help parents effectively balance work and family commitments, and are an important contribution to a flourishing labour market. Noble Lords will wish to be aware that under the tax-free childcare programme, eligibility will be assessed over an entitlement period of three months, allowing for variations in income week by week. I should like to reassure noble Lords that it is not our intention that parents on flexible contracts, or those on zero-hours contracts who meet the criteria, or those who lose their job unexpectedly, should be disadvantaged compared to those with regular working patterns, and we will therefore consider the technical detail of how this should operate and provide further information once we have done so.
The noble Baronesses have proposed that parents who are apprentices should be included within the entitlement. Apprenticeships benefit employers and apprentices themselves and are essential to helping our economy to prosper. Apprenticeships are paid full-time jobs of at least 30 hours with training, and therefore will quality for the additional childcare support.
The Government place considerable value on the important role that volunteers provide in our communities and in many parts of the social fabric of society. Where volunteers otherwise meet the eligibility criteria, they will be able to access the new entitlement.
The noble Baroness, Lady Jones, the noble Lord, Lord Touhig, and the noble Baronesses, Lady Pinnock and Lady Tyler, raised the important issue of carers. Under tax-free childcare, carers receiving carer’s allowance will be entitled to support where they are part of a couple and one parent is working.
In proposing their amendments, the noble Baronesses and noble Lords mentioned many important groups. The Government’s overall package of support already provides for their needs in the ways I have described. The main objective of the new free entitlement, which the Government intend to take into account when considering eligibility, is to support parents into employment. We also want to ensure that the rules are as clear and easy to understand as possible. On this basis, it is the Government’s intention to broadly align eligibility for the additional entitlement with that of tax-free childcare. It is, however, important that we consider each group carefully to ensure that the Government’s core objective for the policy is met and that the interactions between the other benefits that they may be receiving are well thought through. As a result, we intend to consider further, taking into account all your Lordships’ helpful contributions, and will return to the House on Report. I therefore hope that, for all the reasons that I have outlined, noble Baronesses and noble Lords are persuaded not to press their amendments.