Member

The IFS has noted that for a typical childcare worker on £25,000, the employer’s NICs bill will increase from £2,200 to nearly £3,000, a rise of some 33%. This will force many nurseries to close or to reduce hours by opening later or closing earlier, worsening a sector that already faces financial pressure. This, in turn, will affect the ability of mothers to return to work. You can imagine the scramble across south London, for example, for places at good nurseries with adequate hours, and how much worse that scramble will get if we lose some of our nurseries. I look forward to hearing from other noble Lords on this matter, including the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer, whom we have heard already on nurseries. We have come back to this issue because we think it extremely important that something be done, in the interests of the children of our country and working parents. I beg to move.