- Step up: Our campaign for a living wage to live life
- Stop the killing in Syria
- Name a Day to save children's lives
- No child left in the cold
- We need the UK to sign the Hunger Charter
- Become a #66cities champion
- Affordable Childcare for All
- Why international aid is so important
- Call for more health workers
- Why campaigning works
- Our campaigners
Affordable Childcare for All
The recent cut to childcare support has added an average of £500 to low and middle income families’ childcare costs. Affordable childcare is crucial so parents can earn enough to give their children the best start in life. We want everybody to have it.
Sign our latest petition calling on the Chancellor to increase help for childcare costs
We've already had a major success in our campaign when in response to thousands of you lobbying your MPs, the goverment extended chidlcare support to 80,000 more families in which parents work part-time.
Read more about this amazing success
Help us keep up the pressure
However more work needs to be done in making UK childcare work for all.
So now we want you to help us increase the amount of help all low and middle income families get for childcare costs.
In April 2011, the percentage of childcare costs families could claim through Working Tax Credits dropped from 80% to 70%.
Take action now
We want the Chancellor to return support through tax credits to 80% in his April 2012 Budget.
Help us convince him.
Sign our petition to George Osborne now
Hardship
Our recent survey of British parents found the childcare costs are causing real hardship.
Listen to our chief executive Justin Forsyth discuss the issue on the BBC's Today programme.
Our survey, ‘What does childcare cost you?’ conducted with the Daycare Trust, shows that already this cut is having an impact on families’ ability to work.
41% of parents in severe poverty affected by the cut in support through tax credits said they would consider giving up work and 25% said they’re considering reducing their hours.
We also found that with childcare costs rising fast many parents are paying as much for their childcare as their mortgage or rent, are going into debt and are cutting back on household essentials like food.
Making work pay
The government also proposes to further cut the support for some low and middle income working parents who work longer hours when it introduces the new universal credit in 2013.
The coalition government has promised its welfare reforms will guarantee that work will always pay.
It’s a crucial pledge as we seek to tackle unemployment and give families the help to earn a decent wage to be able to raise their children.