November 07, 2022
Childcare boost in election year sweetener
A big boost is coming for childcare.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told the Labour Party annual conference yesterday the changes in the income threshold will mean from April 1 next year 54 per cent of all New Zealand families with children will now be eligible for subsidised childcare assistance.
That means more than 10,000 additional children.
The threshold was frozen by the previous National Government in 2010, and since then the number of eligible children had more than halved.
Ms Ardern said childcare is the biggest in-work expense for families, and many women can’t afford to work because of those costs.
She says the change will cost $48 million a year.
Working For Families payments will also go up, with the Family Tax Credit increasing by $9 a week for the eldest child to $136 a week, and by $7 a week for subsequent children to $111 a week.
Best Start will lift by $4 a week to $69 a week.