
Under the offer, which was launched last September, a couple earning £200,000 between them are able to access 30 hours of free childcare, as long as neither are individually earning more than £100,000.
But members of the education select committee are concerned that this means too many affluent families are benefiting from the support when it could be redirected to those most in need. They want government to consider reducing the threshold and redistributing money saved into specialist support for disadvantaged children.
Questioning Zahawi as part of an inquiry into improving children's life chances, select committee chair Robert Halfon, himself a former Department for Education minister, said: "Can it be right that a couple can earn £200,000 get the 30 hours free childcare when disadvantaged children need support?"
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