Chancellor George Osborne, as he has been officially trailed to do, will announces today a £2,000 per child per annum childcare subsidy for all mothers who want to return to work after having children. The subsidy will apply to all mothers under a highly generous annual income threshold. It is apparently to cover children to around 12 years of age. This itself suggests the introduction of after-school provisions for working mothers, with no apparent infrastructure to support it.
The measure is being fronted as support for getting mothers back into employment, to crank up the economy.
In effect, it becomes a form of jobseekers’ allowance.
This means that every single mother receiving this subsidy must, from the start of receiving it, be entered on the register of the unemployed.
The UK’s unemployment figures must immediately rise.
The terms for the subsidy – which cannot be unconditional, have not been announced.
As are all jobseekers, mothers wishing to return to work and to take advantage of this subsidy, will need to be interviewed, assisted to gain employment – and, should they not find employment, lose the subsidy after a given period.
Or will the subsidy only be paid when a mother finds work and for as long as she stays in work?
Otherwise this will become an unnecessary subsidy for relatively well off mothers who have no intention of returning to work; and a disincentive for others to make the effort.
The same position applies to Scotland where the First Minister has announced substantial universal childcare support for exactly the same reason – to get mothers back to work to help to grow the economy.
Good records will need to be kept so that statistics can reliably show the pattern of the outcomes of this measure.
The devolved Scottish and Northern Irish governments can expect a substantial lift to their annual revenue allocations.
It is interesting to note that the Chancellor has been no more able than Scotland’s First Minister to show how this expensive measure will be funded.
