UK chancellor urged to remove £100k childcare ‘cliff edge’ prompting parents to cut work hours

Critics say threshold pushes higher-paid staff to cut back on work and often mothers to stop working to avoid losing entitlement

John Healey has been urged to fix the 100,000 childcare cliff edge", that means some higher-paid employees cut back on work to avoid losing their entitlement.

Since the latest expansion of taxpayer-funded childcare in 2024, families with young children in which both parents earn less than 100,000 a year can be entitled to 30 hours a week of care - or none at all, if one of them cross that threshold.