Written Question·Department for Education·UIN 17308

Childcare: Fees and Charges

Tabled: 9 July 2026

Answered: 4 August 2026

Named Day

Question

Sir Mel Stride

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her speech to Ruskin College on 8 July 2026, what estimate her Department has made of the annual cost to the public purse of extending 30 hours free childcare eligibility to non-working parent

Answer

Paul Waugh

As the last government set out when announcing the expansion of government funded childcare in 2023, this aimed to tackle the fact that ‘the employment rate and hours worked by parents, particularly mothers, drops after childbirth and persists until afte...

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