The Conservatives have made promises that would benefit wealthier parents, with Kemi Badenoch hinting even people earning over £1million could be entitled to free childcare
Kemi Badenoch vowed to expand free childcare to high earners by scrapping the £100,000 salary cap.
The Tory leader vowed to scrap the so-called £100,000 childcare “cliff edge” that would pull higher earners into the welfare benefit. She told the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham: “If you are a parent, we will make sure free childcare is never removed because of a pay rise.”
Under current legislation, should one parent earn more than £100,000, then the family loses their tax-free childcare support. Parents currently are entitled to 30 hours of free childcare for children aged nine months until they begin school.
A universal 15 hours is offered to parents of children aged three and four, while the working parent offer is available to employed parents earning at least minimum wage to under £100,000. But when pressed on whether the expansion could include people earning as much as £1 million-a-year, Badenoch did not deny they would be included.
Speaking to BBC News, Badenoch said: “It doesn’t matter what you earn, we don’t want you to be punished for working harder.”
When pressed, Badenoch said the “number of people who have very small children, who are earning tens of millions of pounds is negligible.”
Badenoch made the vow while promising to keep the triple lock for pensioners. Prime Minister Andy Burnham hinted he would shift away from the current way the triple lock is calculated, which he claimed would save money.
While Badenoch has not announced exact figures that would support the scheme, she claimed it could be funded by driving down the benefits bill. She claimed it was not “lots of elderly people earning £10-£12,000 per year on the state pension,” but instead “the huge number of people who can work, who don’t work.”
It is among a number of policies aimed at benefitting high earners and wealthier people in Britain. Badenoch today announced she would abolish inheritance tax in a bid to win back traditional Tory voters in the South East who are considering voting for Reform UK.