# Badenoch scraps childcare cap for high earners

> Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch proposes removing the £100,000 salary threshold for funded childcare, funded by cutting civil service jobs.
- Title: Badenoch scraps childcare cap for high earners | Shortify
- Summary: Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch proposes removing the £100,000 salary threshold for funded childcare, funded by cutting civil service jobs. Kemi Badenoch's…
- Keywords: kemi badenoch, conservative party, childcare policy, funded childcare, civil service cuts, labour party, uk politics, politics, news, Badenoch, scraps, childcare
- Source: The Independent — https://independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/kemi-badenoch-childcare-public-servants-b3060842.html
- Published: 2026-10-04T09:53:41+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: kemi badenoch, conservative party, childcare policy, funded childcare, civil service cuts, labour party, uk politics, politics, news
## Badenoch removes earnings cap
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch proposes scrapping the £100,000 salary cap on funded childcare. Any parent working at least 16 hours weekly would qualify for 30 hours free care.

> you shouldn't be punished for working more
## Current system withdraws all support
Under present rules, parents of young children can claim 30 hours of funded care if both earn under £100,000 annually. If a single parent's income exceeds this, the entire entitlement is withdrawn.
## Badenoch calls rules absurd
Unveiling the pledge at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, Badenoch described the current system as absurd and a disincentive to work more or seek promotion.

> this childcare cliff edge does exactly that
## Policy costs £700m annually
Party officials calculate the policy would cost £700m a year. They propose funding it through reductions in civil service headcount across arm's-length public bodies like Arts Council England and the Environment Agency.
## Savings target £1.6bn by decade end
Officials suggest shrinking organisations such as Arts Council England and the Environment Agency could generate £1.6bn in savings by the end of the decade. NHS organisations are excluded from the job cuts.
## Badenoch rejects means-testing approach
Asked why she was not considering a taper instead of abolishing the threshold entirely, Badenoch said the policy targets people like a deputy head teacher becoming a head teacher, earning between eighty-five and one hundred ten thousand pounds.

> She goes from 85 to 110,000. She's got three kids. All of a sudden, she's losing tens of thousands of pounds.
## Labour attacks Tory priorities
Labour responded that no government has invested more in early years than the current Labour government. A Labour spokesperson said the Conservatives' focus on unpicking policies helping higher earners shows their priorities.

> It tells you everything you need to know about the Tories that the first of their own tax policies they want to unpick is one helping higher earners.
## Key takeaway

Kemi Badenoch's Conservatives would scrap the £100,000 salary cap on funded childcare, letting any parent working 16 hours weekly claim 30 hours free care, funded by cutting civil service jobs across public bodies.