Innovative childcare scheme introduced in London
The cost of childcare stops many parents from starting a new job or returning to work.
This is particularly the case in London, where childcare costs are a third higher than in the rest of Britain. It is especially hard for single parents in London who spend, on average, half of their take-home pay on nursery costs.
To deal with this problem, the single parent charity Gingerbread drew up a proposal to help many of those struggling with childcare costs which has now been adopted by the Mayor of London.
A new childcare deposit scheme is being introduced across all organisations in the Greater London Authority (GLA), including Transport for London, the Metropolitan Police and the London Fire Brigade, giving parents a helping hand to get back into the workplace.
Gingerbread comments
Speaking about the new scheme, Dalia Ben-Galim, Policy Director at Gingerbread said:
“Helping parents with the up-front costs of childcare when they start work is a brilliant move and is what Gingerbread and London’s single parents were calling for during the Mayoral election last year.
"Thousands of London’s single parents are being locked out of work due to the prohibitive cost of childcare and this scheme offers genuine support to parents who want to work.
“We welcome that the Mayor of London has made this available to all GLA workers and we are keen to work with him to persuade all employers to offer a similar scheme to help parents with the high cost of childcare in London.
“A childcare deposit scheme should be as commonplace and easy to access as cycle-to-work schemes or season ticket loans and we look forward to working with the Mayor to see this happen for all parents across the capital.”
Help with childcare costs
Many of those seeking help from Turn2us struggle with childcare costs. If you are working, preparing to work or in education, you might get help with childcare costs.
See our Help with childcare costs guide