Today\u2019s budget highlights the Government\u2019s lack of ambition for families, according to Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore.<\/p>\n
Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on children, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter months of uncertainty over promised cuts to childcare costs, it is welcome that the further 25 per cent reduction is now confirmed. However, it has emerged that this measure will not be introduced until September 2024, which is completely unacceptable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese reductions must be brought in now. Families cannot be expected to wait another year for help with spiralling childcare costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving a family is expensive and those extra costs kick in from the day a child is born, not just when they go into childcare.<\/p>\n
“In our alternative budget, the Social Democrats proposed extending Parents\u2019 Benefit by 12 weeks, divided equally between each parent. This would have resulted in a total of 13 weeks\u2019 paid leave per parent for every child, in addition to maternity and paternity leave entitlements. We also called for an increase in the weekly rate for Maternity, Adoptive, Paternity and Parent\u2019s Benefit from \u20ac262 to \u20ac350.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Budget 2024, however, the Government did not increase the rate of payment and only announced an extra two weeks\u2019 paid leave \u2013 the bare minimum required under an EU Directive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should be empowering parents to make better choices for their families to allow them spend more time at home with their babies during that critical first year. It is disappointing that the Government did not seize the opportunity to make meaningful, positive changes to family life in today\u2019s budget.\u201d<\/p>\n
October 10, 2023<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today\u2019s budget highlights the Government\u2019s lack of ambition for families, according to Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore. Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on children, said: \u201cAfter months of uncertainty over promised cuts to childcare costs, it is welcome that the further 25 per cent reduction is now confirmed. However, it has emerged that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2069,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[296,268,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-childcare","category-jennifer-whitmore","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n