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Working Families’ Response to Spring Budget 2024

Published: 6 Mar 2024

A nursery workers sits at a table with a group of young children engaged in play

Today’s Spring Budget from the Chancellor hasn’t delivered on Working Families’ ambition to see meaningful change. While it had the opportunity to do so, this Spring Budget hasn’t delivered the financial backing to dramatically improve the lives of the UK’s 12 million working parents and 5 million working carers. 

While we cautiously welcome the Chancellor pledging to guarantee the rates that will be paid to childcare providers to deliver the government’s childcare expansion package, as well as the move to increase the high-income threshold to child benefit so that it applies to households and not individuals, our analysis of this Spring Budget feels very much an echo of the Autumn Statement. In our view both were missed opportunities for wider change that would help remove the barriers that people with caring responsibilities face in the workplace. 

At Working Families, one of our key values is being practical. Our calls for this Spring Budget were not only practical but provided tangible ways to help drive equity for parents and carers in the workplace.  

Working Families has been delighted to see the introduction of neonatal leave and pay be introduced, however by deciding against bringing this reform forward from 2025 means many will continue to miss out on vital support if they aren’t fortunate enough to work for a progressive employer who has already taken action  

Whilst we welcome the commitment that the Chancellor has made to guarantee the rates that will be paid to childcare providers to deliver the government’s childcare expansion package, we will be watching this with great interest to see that this promise is kept, that increases in rates truly reflect the rising cost of living and that parents and carers are not left without sufficient childcare places due to a shortfall in funding.  

Finally, we recognise that the cost of living for the UK’s 12 million working parents and 5 million working carers is still exorbitantly high. For those on lower incomes, times are still incredibly challenging and a decision to not introduce any additional support to those on Universal Credit or legacy benefits except to increase the time to pay back budgeting advance from 12 months to 24 months is, in our view, not sufficient. If the Chancellor and the Government want to really support those on Universal Credit, they could have increased Universal Credit payments to meet living costs, so that those in receipt would be less likely to be in debt and or need help with emergency costs in the first place.

Finally, we hope the Chancellor will be considering longer term ways to tackle the barriers highlighted in our open letter, that people with caring responsibilities face in the workplace.