Read: Purpose Coalition wins on cost-of-living proposals

Today’s Budget saw the Government pledge to introduce 30 hours free childcare as well as an end to additional payments for those using prepayment energy, both key recommendations in the Purpose Coalition’s recent Cost-of-Living Action Plan.

In his Spring Budget Statement, the Chancellor announced the expansion of free childcare provision for children of working parents aged nine months and over from 2025. Currently, the Government only supports children over the age of three, with working parents often having to use expensive private nurseries or childminders. For those on lower incomes, it means often having to resort to piecemeal private childcare and juggling part-time work, or not working at all. That’s bad news for individuals, often women, who do not have the opportunity to pursue careers or contribute to their household incomes, for children who cannot access nursery places at a key stage in their development and for the country more widely which needs a fully-functioning workforce to boost productivity and the economy.  30 hours free childcare was a key recommendation in Lord Walney’s Cost of Living Report, published earlier this month. 

An end to additional charges for those using prepayment energy from July was part of another recommendation in the Action Plan which proposed a more wide-ranging review of the personal energy resilience of households, including looking at the consequences of giving households the right to an unbroken supply of gas and electricity and making it illegal to cut off a household’s supply. At the moment, those using prepayment energy meters can end up paying more than those on monthly payment plans.

Author of the report, and chair of the Purpose Business Coalition, Lord Walney said: “The Purpose Coalition’s Cost-of-Living Taskforce had identified childcare reform and personal energy security as two of the elements essential for putting our economy on a stronger footing. Its members recognised the impact that cost of living pressures are having on their colleagues, customers and the communities they serve and worked hard to develop workable solutions that will make a positive social impact.  

“It’s encouraging that the Government has listened. The measures announced by the Chancellor today encouraging parents back into the workforce through more effective childcare provision and supporting the most vulnerable households with energy costs will help to break down some of the barriers that prevent people from accessing opportunity and achieving their potential. They will also help to build longer-term resilience to protect people against any future financial shocks.

”I'm looking forward to continuing to work with our partners over the coming months to explore how we can take forward the other recommendations in our report."  

The Purpose Coalition’s Cost-of-Living Taskforce was set up to tackle the challenges facing the country as a result of huge energy costs and rising food prices which have impacted on people’s financial resilience as well as on their physical and mental health. Other recommendations in its Action Plan  included the introduction of a government backed rainy-day savings scheme into which employers would automatically enrol workers, the transformation of access to cost-of-living support by overhauling the government’s inadequate information systems and tackling the mental health pressures that a higher cost-of-living has inflicted on students.