Universal Credit childcare support to come this June

SSIF • June 6, 2023

Universal Credit childcare support to come this June

An increase to the payment that eligible Universal Credit claimants can get towards childcare costs will arrive on 28 June 2023, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced.


The payment increase will allow eligible parents to claim up to £951 per month for one child and up to £1,630 per month for two or more children to cover childcare fees. This is up from £646.35 per month for one child and from £1,108.04 for two or more children.


This extra allowance is known as the childcare element of Universal Credit. It can cover up to 85% of a claimant’s childcare costs, up to the maximum amounts noted above.



Also from 28 June, parents on Universal Credit who are moving into work or significantly increasing their working hours will receive help with childcare costs upfront, rather than in arrears.


Eligibility for the childcare element

To qualify for the childcare element, you (and your partner, if you have one) must normally work. Any number of hours of work will do.



You may also qualify if you work and your partner is unable to provide childcare, either because they are incapable of work, or because they provide regular and substantial care to a disabled person (and are eligible for Carer’s Allowance).

Not enough urgency to tackle lack of specialist places and higher costs

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt first announced these Universal Credit childcare support reforms in his Spring Budget earlier this year.


At the time, we said: “The Budget focused on getting people back into work. But it missed a large section of the working population: parents with disabled children. Help towards childcare costs through Universal Credit and for one- and two-year-olds is welcome, especially as childcare costs are eight times more for a disabled child. There were also some sensible proposals to address the huge gaps in the childcare workforce.

But the urgency and ambition required to deal with the scale of the problem was not there.


“Our Counting the Costs research found a combination of lack of suitable childcare for disabled children and prohibitive costs force parent carers to give up jobs and careers. We need a childcare workforce trained to meet the needs of disabled children.

This will ensure there are enough specialist places in all areas across the UK. And we need targeted financial help for families with disabled children who face significantly higher costs for childcare.”


Credit - Contact for families with disabled children.

Improving the way Ofsted inspects education

February 7, 2025
Ofsted want to know what you think about their proposed plans for inspecting schools and other settings where children and adults learn. This includes:  early years state-funded schools non-association independent schools further education and skills ( FE and skills) initial teacher education ( ITE ) In summary, they propose: Report cards – these would give parents and carers more detailed information than the current reports, including a new 5-point grading scale to evaluate more areas of a provider’s work and short summaries of what inspectors found. Education inspection toolkits – this tool shows providers and inspectors the evaluation areas that we’ll focus inspections on and how we’ll assess and grade providers (scroll down to see our toolkits). Inspection methodology – changes to how we carry out inspection. Full inspections and monitoring inspections, state-funded schools – we plan to end ungraded inspections of state-funded schools and change our monitoring programmes so that we can check that timely action is taken to raise standards. Identifying state-funded schools causing concern – a new approach to how we’ll place a school into a category of concern. Read the full report and respond to the consultation.

Kids Autism Hub

February 3, 2025
Kids the charity Autism HUB. Are you a young autistic person who has just been diagnosed? Are you a parent wondering how best to support your autistic child? Do you want to connect with people like you? Then The Kids Autism HUB could be for you. The Kids Autism Hub is for young people aged 12 – 25 who are newly diagnosed with autism, young people who are on the diagnosis pathway, and the family members of those young people. It is now possible to self - refer and you can find out more information and how to do this on the KIDS Website .

ISOS Report Update from the National Network of Parent Carers (NNPCF)

January 28, 2025
You may recall that in July, the Local Government Association (LGA) and County Councils Network (CCN), in partnership with ISOS, published a report titled “Towards an Effective and Financially Sustainable Approach to Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) in England.” In their response, NNPCF expressed their hope that the report would serve as a platform for initiating important conversations and welcomed greater involvement with LGA and CCN moving forward. As a result, NNPCF has been credited by ISOS for helping use their report as a “platform” to discuss SEND reform. Read more about the ISOS Report.

SSIF Seminar - Support Plans and Support Whilst Waiting for EHCNA or EHCP

By Irvana Davies • January 6, 2025
SSIF invite ParentCarers of Children with SEND to our third Seminar this year. ‘Support Plans, ISPs, Support Whilst Waiting for EHCNA and EHCP’ is the third in a series of valuable an informative events for ParentCarers that will run throughout the year. This seminar is aimed at ParentCarers who are not sure of the support and information available to them and their families whilst they are waiting for an Education and Health Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA) or an Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP). We will aim to answer questions such as: What is an Individual Support Plan (ISP), and who is it for? What are Reasonable Adjustments and can I expect them to be made for my child? What is the SEN Register? What is SEN Support? What can I do to support my child or young person at home? Are there any workshops or webinars I can access? We have a panel of professionals from the Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) Team, Health and Education, who will talk about what support is available and how to find it. They will also bust some common myths. We are inviting ParentCarers to submit any questions they have for the panel by email, by Monday 20th January 2025, via email, to jody@southendsendindependentforum.org.uk There will also be an opportunity for people to participate in a co-production session to develop a useful route map/flow chart of the Support Whilst Waiting process. Book your ticket here.
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