Every party offers new policies to support families in their manifestos. The Family Hubs Network has compared what different colours of Government could offer families and offers this summary of all the national parties from the Conservatives to the Greens.
Families are the bedrock of society yet there are huge pressures on family finances, high rates of family breakdown, and increasing prevalence of mental ill-health among children, young people and parents. Hence the pressure on all the main parties to offer financial but also other support to families.
Link to report.
The headline promise from the Conservatives is finishing their “largest-ever expansion of childcare in history”, which will offer all families from September 2025 30 hours of free childcare. They also promise to expand Family Hubs to every local authority and restructure Child Benefit so it is based on household, rather than individual, income.
The Labour Party promised to open an additional 3000 new nurseries alongside a new Young Futures programme with hubs in every community. They say this network will, “support young people’s mental health and avoid them being drawn into crime.” A review of the parental leave system is promised in the first year of Government.
Outside the two major parties, the Liberal Democrats promised an enhanced rate of Child Benefit for one-year-olds – a ‘toddler top-up’ – and to overhaul parental leave making it a day-one right in employment. A Cabinet Minister for Children and Young People would be appointed under a Liberal Democrat Government. The Green Party manifesto committed to £1.4bn to build Sure Start Centres, and sets out to abolish the two-child benefit cap. Finally, Reform UK promise to front-load Child Benefit and introduce a 25% transferable marriage tax allowance. This, Reform UK says, will “incentivise people trapped on benefits back into the workplace.”
“A strong society is impossible without strong families yet there are huge pressures on family finances, high rates of family breakdown, and increasing prevalence of mental ill-health among children, young people and parents. More is needed to support families and the Family Hubs Network has called for the reform of family taxation, the expansion of Family Hubs to every local authority and restrictions on smartphone use for children. Our manifesto analysis helps to clarify and compare what different parties promise for families.”
Dr Samantha Callan OBE, Director of Family Hubs Network
Featured image courtesy of Andrea De Santis via Unsplash.com. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
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