§ Sir Brandon Rhys Williamsasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his latest estimate of the tax expenditure costs of allowing working mothers to put their childminding costs up to a maximum of £35 a week against income tax.
§ Mr. Norman LamontThe cost of relief for the childminding costs of working mothers would depend on a number of factors such as whether the relief would be350W available only for children of pre-school age or for older children as well; whether the relief would be given against the total income of a married couple or would be restricted to the income of the working mother; the treatment of relief for payments made to relatives and the extent to which relief was in practice taken up by mothers.
As an illustration, if all working mothers of children aged under five received relief on child-minding expenses of £35 per week, the direct revenue cost, in a full year at 1987–88 levels, would be about £350 million. This assumes that, for a married woman, relief would be available against her and her husband's joint income for tax purposes. In practice, the cost would be dependent on the level of take-up of the relief.