Mums should be given extra £8,000 if they want to stay at home and look after their kids | The Sun
MUMS should be given extra £8,000 to stay at home and look after their kids, a new report has said.
Researchers at the Civitas think tank are set to urge ministers to make an £8,000 childcare allowance available in order to help stay-at-home mums.
Department of Education officials have reportedly been locked in "intense conversations" over how to improve childcare in England and make it more affordable.
Civitas' idea involves bundling existing child benefit and childcare grants into a single "family support benefit".
Amid the cost of living crisis, childcare is becoming even less affordable.
This new support would give parents with kids aged under four up to £8,000 per year.
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The money can be spent on external childcare, paying a relative to look after the kids or to support parents staying at home to do so.
The think tank estimates that there are more than two million "miserable mums" who are stuck at work when they would rather be caring for their kids at home.
Meanwhile a government survey in 2019 found that two thirds of mums with kids under four would prefer to work fewer hours in order to stay at home with their tots.
Frank Young, head of children and families at Civitas, told the Daily Telegraph: "For over 30 years, governments have pushed parents into work and subsidised childcare.
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"This isn't listening to mothers.
"Childcare policy is the wrong way around."
The proposal makes several recommendations for payments, which all together total up to around £8,000.
First, it suggests allowing parents to claim their full allocation of child benefit, which would usually be paid until their child is 18, while youngsters are under five.
This would increase the annual payment from £1,114 to £5,101.
The report also suggests increasing child benefit to pre-2010 levels, boosting the figure to £6,273.
This would then be boosted above £8,000 by almost £2,000 paid to replace existing childcare subsidies.
For example the grant for 15 to 30 hours childcare for parents of kids aged three or four, which is currently paid directly to nurseries.
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Anne Fennell, chair of the Mother at Home Matter campaign, said: "Conversations around childcare must positively include and recognise those mothers who…would prefer the choice to carry out this valuable work themselves.
"We may finally recognise that mothers are having to work very long hours away from their children for very little recompense."
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