The Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, will reportedly deliver a speech today calling for families receiving benefits to be granted 30 free hours of childcare per week.

Under the existing UK system, only parents who are both in employment are typically eligible for the free childcare provision, which covers nursery places for youngsters aged between nine months and four years.

However, the education secretary argues those already on benefits are being shut out from accessing it.

The present childcare scheme in England is forecast to cost the taxpayer approximately £8 billion annually by 2028.

Experts have indicated that a “universal childcare offer” would require up to £15 billion.

In a speech to be delivered in Oxford today, Phillipson maintains that there is a persuasive social and economic argument for a “universal early years” provision, reports The Times.

She will say: “We know that around half of all children from low-income families are missing out on formal childcare and early years.

“There are families out there who can’t afford quality childcare because they aren’t working, and they struggle to work because they can’t afford quality childcare. So their children miss out on quality early years education. Where’s the sense in that?

“By extending government-funded childcare into these communities, not only would we be supporting parents into work, not only would we be supporting disadvantaged children with quality early years, but we would no longer be cutting off these families from society, no longer fostering disengagement and detachment. That’s a big opportunity that we must be bold enough to take.”

Since September 2025, all eligible families with children aged nine months to four years can access 30 hours of free childcare a week.

Those with a child aged between nine months and two years old, and who earn the equivalent of the national minimum wage for 16 hours a week, on average, but less than £100,000 a year, all qualify for free childcare.

Any parent of three and four-year-olds are entitled to 15 hours free childcare a week as standard, regardless of whether they are in work.

Working parents with children of these ages can claim the full 30 hours if they meet the earnings criteria. The Department for Education (DfE) estimates more than 500,000 families now benefit from funded hours.