Currently, a family with two children aged 2 and 4 pays £10,970 for full-time childcare, some 25.4 per cent of their disposable income. This figure is based on both parents working full time earning £21,555 each – a typical yearly salary – and is after accounting for 15 hours free for 38 weeks and the extra support offered via vouchers, worth £1,870 a year.  Dalia Ben-Galim, associate director at the IPPR, said: “Tax-free childcare on its own will not make childcare more affordable for families. The Government has not got a plan to regulate the market, nor control prices, which makes pumping tax relief into the system a short-term fix with long-term price rise consequences.”  Dr Ben-Galim said Chancellor George Osborne may announce further measures to help parents with the high cost of childcare in tomorrow’s Autumn Statement.  But with childcare costs running way above inflation, a more “radical” approach to reform is needed, she said.  “Direct childcare provision or direct payments to childcare providers would be more effective at achieving lower childcare costs and would be more effective at driving up quality provision,” she said.  Last month, Maria Miller, minister for women and equalities, called on businesses to do more to encourage women to succeed at work, suggesting they should promote greater flexible working to make it easier to juggle home and work life.  She said the Government was “playing its part” by introducing a new system of shared parental leave and flexible working from 2015, as well as a new tax break for childcare costs for working families.  But the IPPR study suggests the planned changes on childcare do not go far enough, said Dr Ben-Galim.
Parents face being almost &pound;2,000 worse off a year from 2018, because the   rocketing cost of childcare for families with two children will outpace the   Government&rsquo;s planned tax relief, an analysis has revealed