Governments should give more freedom to families to choose whether to care for their children themselves or 
to put them in childcare, a leading UK think tank has said.
Civitas were responding to reports suggesting that the UK’s Coalition Government was to increase support for childcare by up to £2,000 a year.
Anastasia de Waal, Deputy Director and Director of Family and Education at Civitas, said the move was positive, but said that the Government should move away from giving money directly towards childcare, and towards a system of tax breaks, which could be allocated between parents.
She said: “”As money has become increasingly tight for families, greater flexibility for how they handle their work and childcare arrangements is more important than ever.
“It is good to see the Government doing more for working families through childcare vouchers, even though the additional help falls short of what many will be hoping for.
“But at least in the longer term the Government should consider a more straightforward system of tax breaks which can be shared between the two parents, enabling them to better juggle the demands of work and family.
“The main problem with the Government’s support at the moment is that it gives a tax break to couples so long as they pay someone else to look after their children.
“It would be better – for both children and the economy – if the Government let parents keep more of the money they have earned so that they can decide whether to care for their own children or pay someone else.”
In a statement, Civitas suggested the UK Government look at the French system of income-splitting, which allows couples to reverse roles or to share working and caring as they believe best.
The ‘quotient familial’ allows people to split their income between parents and their children. An adult counts as one unit and a child half a unit so that a couple with two children would be able to divide their income between three units.