Budget fails to deliver on parents’ concerns

The Irish Examiner and Lansdowne Market Research carried out the first nationwide poll on childcare in November.

It found:

* Nine out of 10 households, where at least one parent is at home, believe the Government should provide tax relief to working parents who pay for childcare. Yesterday, the Government provided no tax relief on childcare costs for working parents.

* Working parents struggling to meet childcare costs recognise that stay-at-home parents are equally in need of financial support. Yesterday’s Budget provided the same financial assistance to stay-at-home parents as working parents, allowing Finance Minister Brian Cowen to avoid accusations of being anti-mothers-in-the-home.

* Almost half of parents surveyed (46%) were in favour of a 1% increase in the standard rate of income tax to fund childcare. Not surprisingly, the Government resisted the temptation to increase tax rates.

* More than 84% of parents surveyed believed the Government had failed to properly address the issue of high-quality childcare. Only one-in-four women return to full-time work once they have a family. Yesterday’s Budget did nothing to encourage mothers back into the workplace as they will get just as much to stay at home.

* The poll found just one-in-10 believes childcare is reasonably affordable. This is unlikely to change. In fact, the suspicion is that many childcare providers will up their costs, to absorb the extra money given to parents with children aged under six.

* The poll found one-in-five households depend on family, primarily grandparents, to bail out parents unable to meet formal childcare costs. The decision yesterday to allow someone minding three children in their home to earn up to €10,000 tax-free is unlikely to benefit grandparents as the majority were only being paid nominal amounts, most likely undeclared.