Summer holiday childcare in UK now costs £1,000 a child, research finds
Parents or carers in full-time work said to be ‘dreading’ expense, and sum may be even higher in Wales and south-east England
Parents saving up to £10,000 in nursery benefits may face unexpected tax bills
HMRC says several commercial schemes are exploiting tax exemption aimed at employers who provide nursery places
‘It’s put so many families in poverty’: people on the impact of the two-child benefit cap
As Labour backbenchers call for Keir Starmer to scrap the cap, families reveal their struggles as a result of the two-child limit
June 2024
Tax giveaways, rent caps and childcare: what the manifestos would mean for your finances
We look at general election pledges from Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems on tax, spending and benefits
Labour’s plan for nursery places is great – in theory
Letters: Iain Dalton urges Leeds’s Labour-led council to reconsider nursery closures, while Anne-Louise Crocker and Emily Brookes wonder where new staff for the promised 100,000 extra places will come from
Labour urged to confirm how it will find staff for 100,000 new childcare places
Politics live with Andrew Sparrow
Harder to own your first home under the Tories, Rishi Sunak admits – UK politics as it happened
Labour pledges to create more than 100,000 new nursery places
May 2024
Toddlers ‘sold out’ to balance books of childcare bill, English nursery providers say
Are consumers any better off after 14 years of Conservative government?
Economy, health, migration and more: key battlegrounds in the UK election
Support parents who choose to care for their children at home
Consumer champions
Childcare vouchers firm won’t refund £2,800 accrued since pandemic struck
All parents, working or not, should have access to childcare, say experts in England
‘At the start you get molested and by 45 you’re too old to work’ – the secret misery of women working in TV
You be the judge
You be the judge: should my fiance agree to opening a joint account?
April 2024
England childcare scheme may struggle to deliver places, finds ‘damning’ report
The expansion of free childcare has been a Tory-fied mess of a bright Labour idea
Polly Toynbee
Expansion plans require 85,000 more childcare places by September 2025
Sure Start could have changed everything for my family. Labour must be brave – and revitalise it
