Huge 30 hours free childcare change confirmed in Budget to help millions of parents – see the full details

MILLIONS more parents will now get 30 hours of free childcare in today's Budget in a huge new change.

Jeremy Hunt will extend help for working mums and dads in a bid to get more Brits back to the office and to boost the economy.

The parents of anyone over nine months will get 30 hours of free childcare a week in future - for the first time ever - as long as both parents are working 16 hours a week.

The huge change is among at least seven changes revealed in the Budget today.

Those looking after three-year-olds will get extra help too.

The Chancellor says it will be worth £6,000 every year for a family with a two-year-old child.

Mr Hunt said: "We have the one of the most expensive systems in the world. Almost half of non-working mothers said they would prefer to work if they could arrange suitable childcare.

"For many women, a career break becomes a career end. Our female participation rate is higher than average for OECD economies, but we trail top performers like Denmark and the Netherlands.

• Millions of households will save £160 after the Energy Price guarantee was extended
• Cigarette prices will rise after the government hiked tobacco tax
• Drivers won’t pay more for fuel as duty was frozen and a 5p cut will continue in a huge win for The Sun’s campaign to keep it low
• The lifetime allowance on pensions will be axed and the annual allowance will increase
• The government will give councils £500m to fix potholes
• Millions of energy customers on prepayment meters will no longer pay more
• Jeremy Hunt unveiled 12 low-tax investment zones across the country
• Alcohol duty on beer in pubs will be cut, saving 11p per pint - but tax on wine and spirits will increase
• The Chancellor confirmed that benefits will rise next month
• Corporation tax will rise to 25% next month
• The government will extend free childcare to 30 hours for one and two-year-olds
• Working parents on Universal Credit will get more for childcare and costs covered straight away

"If we matched Dutch levels of participation, there would be more than one million more women who want to work, in the labour force. And we can."

Working parents of two-year-olds will be able to access 15 hours of free childcare from next April, in 2024.

And that will be extended to all children from nine months old after September 2024.

One million more parents will be eligible for help.

By September 2025, "every single working parent of under fives will have access to 30 hours free childcare per week", Mr Hunt told MPs.

The Chancellor also hiked the hourly rate paid by the Government to childcare providers, who have long said that the help they get doesn't actually cover their costs.

Mr Hunt said: "We will increase the funding paid to nurseries providing free childcare under the hours offer by £204m from this September rising to £288m next year.

"This is an average of a 30 per cent increase in the two-year-old rate this year, just as the sector has requested."

Childminders will get a £600 bonus if they sign up to become one, and another £1,200 for those who join an agency, in an attempt to get more into the system.

Another £400 million is also being dished out to local councils for breakfast and after-school clubs to encourage people to stay in work too.

The policy is set to cost a whopping £4 billion - and the Treasury had initially thought it would be too expensive to announce at today's statement.

The system will replicate the means-testing of the existing childcare offer for three and four-year-olds - meaning that higher earners won't be able to access it in full.

At the moment all parents of three and four-year-olds get at least 15 hours a week of free help - no matter how much parents earn.

And they can get 30 hours of free childcare if both parents earn at least 16 hours a week on the minimum wage - up to a total of £100,000.

The Chancellor has admitted that the huge costs of childcare are stopping parents from taking up work.

Ministers want to cut the number of people who are economically inactive - out of work and on benefits or retired.

He is planning a series of “skills bootcamps” to tempt retirees back into work.

There will also be an expansion to the “mid-life MOT” scheme where people are offered financial advice to see whether they can actually afford to retire early.

Help with childcare costs

There is a range of tax breaks and grants to help make childcare more affordable. 

You can usually use them for care like registered childminders, nannies, playschemes, nurseries, and holiday clubs.

It’s worth checking the government’s handy  to find out which scheme will save you the most money, as not all of them can be used at the same time.