Grandparents 'should be paid for childcare'

WE should pay grandparents to help with childcare amid a nursery space shortage, MPs have been told.

- Martyn Brown

A "modest payment" from the Government could be made to those who assist with their grandchildren.

Professor Coyle Diane of Cambridge University said it might be an alternative to official efforts to boost childcare availability and encouraging parents back to work.

It comes amid warnings the sector cannot meet new demand fuelled by the Budget.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's £5.3billion shake-up included a promise of up to 30 hours a week of free childcare for working parents for all infants over nine months.

Economist Tony Wilson, director at the Institute for Employment Studies, told the Treasury select committee: "There are some quite significant challenges about whether the market can grow quickly enough to meet that demand.