London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 14, 2025

Childcare: I'll cut costs to boost workforce, says Chancellor Jeremy Hunt

Childcare: I'll cut costs to boost workforce, says Chancellor Jeremy Hunt

The chancellor has vowed to help reduce the cost of childcare at Wednesday's Budget as part of a wider drive to help people into work.

Jeremy Hunt told the BBC that costs were stopping some parents taking a job, and the government could make a "big difference" to reduce them.

He said further support would be part of a package of measures to break down "barriers" to entering the workforce.

But he said public finances meant the room for tax cuts was limited.

Ministers have a lot of heavy lifting to do to make a big impression at the Budget, against the backdrop of an economy that is still wobbly.

Conservative backbench MPs are calling for tax cuts they are not going to get, whilst Labour is slamming the government's long-term record.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves says her party's plan to secure more investment in green industries could arrest a "low growth spiral" in the UK.

Under Budget plans that have already been announced, the government is expected to pay childcare support to parents on universal credit up front instead in arrears, as now.

The current UK-wide £646-a-month per child cap on support for universal credit claimants is also expected to be increased by several hundred pounds. An exact figure has not yet been given.

It is expected to be part of a package of measures designed to reverse a rise in economic inactivity since Covid, including changes to fitness-to-work tests for those with medical conditions.

The Budget is also expected to extend the current level of support for energy bills, limiting costs for a typical family to £2,500 a year, for a further three months until June.

Other measures reportedly under consideration, but not yet confirmed, include continuing the 5p cut to fuel duty, changes to tax-free pensions allowances, and bringing forward a rise in the pension age.

Mr Hunt has also resisted Tory calls for the planned rise in corporation tax from 19% to 25% to be cancelled or deferred.


Tax pressures


Downplaying the prospects of a major tax-cutting Budget, Mr Hunt said it was important to be "responsible with [the] public finances".

Adding that any cuts would have to be "within the bounds of what is responsible," he said "Conservatives cut taxes when they can".

He also signalled that he was unlikely to announce further childcare support for families that don't qualify for Universal Credit, describing this as "expensive".

Although ministers "would like to help everyone," he added that "you can't always do everything at once".

Cutting childcare costs has emerged as a key political battleground, with prices in the UK among the highest in the world.

Critics say the current level of government support means it is simply not worth large numbers of parents, even those on middle incomes, taking on new or extra work.

Early Years Alliance, an education charity, has welcomed the changes for families on benefits, but urged a "wider package of measures" to bring down costs for parents.

Labour has promised to completely overhaul the system in England if it takes office, saying the current model of free childcare hours is "broken".

Ms Reeves, the shadow chancellor, hit out at the Conservatives' record in government, which she said had left the UK in a "low growth, low productivity, low investment spiral".

She said Labour would take inspiration from US President Joe Biden's package of green subsidies to attract investment to new industries.

The party has said that if it wins power at the next election, its promised £8bn "national wealth fund" would be tasked with boosting investment into struggling regions.

Ms Reeves said the government had failed to "seize the opportunities" of investment in green jobs, allowing other countries to "steal march on us here in Britain".

"I feels like we are in the changing room, while other countries are in the global race," she added.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
×