“Liz Truss’s proposed tax break for stay-at-home parents isn’t the answer – affordable childcare is”

Written by Amy Beecham

As the Conservative leadership race reaches the final two candidates, hopeful Liz Truss has announced tax relief plans for stay-at-home parents. But what will it do to fix the affordable childcare crisis?

Beginning her campaign to become the next leader of the Conservative party,Liz Truss has pledged to conduct an immediate review into providing tax relief for stay-at-home parents and carers if she is made prime minister.

“Hardworking families are the bedrock of a stable society, and one of my top priorities as prime minister would be easing the tax burden on families,” Truss said in a statement.

“They don’t just look after themselves but also build communities, charities and even businesses. We will review the taxation of families to ensure people aren’t penalised for taking time out to care for their children or elderly relatives.”

What does tax relief mean for stay-at-home parents?

The announced plans would look to treat households as “single tax entities” so that “people aren’t penalised for taking time out of work to care for family or their children”.

This would allow households to share their personal tax allowances, building on the existing tax break for married couples and civil partners, first promised by former prime minister David Cameron in 2005.

Currently, one member of a married couple who earns under the £12,570 income tax threshold can transfer £1,270 of their allowance to their spouse, reducing their tax bill by up to £252 a year. The eligibility could be extended to all cohabiting couples, and the size of the tax break dramatically increased under the new proposal.

While Truss’s campaign yesterday said there is £1 trillion worth of “behind the scenes caring contributions, which lessen the burden on the public purse” and that it is “only right to support these individuals”, critics say it will do little to solve the problem; instead, it forces parents to make difficult decisions between their careers and their children.

Others suggested that the proposal missed the point that lots of people, particularly during the cost of living crisis, can’t afford to raise a family on one salary.

The lack of affordable childcare available in the UK has long been a subject of campaigns, with the average cost of sending a child under the age of two to nursery reaching over £263.81 a week full-time (50 hours).

“Families across this country are crying out for affordable childcare so that they don’t have to choose between their career and their kids,” Labour MP Stella Creasy told Stylist in response to the plans.

“Instead of helping them and investing in provision, Liz Truss seems to think taxes should be used to make women stay home instead. It shows you this Tory party wants to take Britain back to the 1950s, not help everyone thrive in the 2020s.”

Images: Getty

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