Badenoch pledges to scrap 'absurd' £100k childcare 'cliff edge' at Tory conference, funded by cutting quango jobs

From the Newshound archive · first published 3 October 2026 · last updated 4 October 2026.

Kemi Badenoch has promised to abolish the threshold that strips free childcare from parents earning over £100,000, calling it "absurd" that earning one extra pound can leave a family thousands worse off. The policy would cost £700 million a year and extend 30 hours of free weekly childcare to all parents working 16 or more hours, regardless of salary. Badenoch told the BBC: "No one should be turning down a promotion or a pay rise because they literally cannot afford to earn more." The pledge is the centrepiece of the Conservatives' Birmingham conference opening.

Around 12,000 parents are reportedly deliberately capping their income below £100,000 to keep free childcare, according to the Centre for the Analysis of Taxation.

The £700m annual cost would be funded by axing jobs at quangos such as Arts Council England and the Environment Agency, saving £1.6bn by the decade's end.

The cliff edge was created by former Tory chancellor Jeremy Hunt — Badenoch's move is a deliberate break from the Sunak era she has spent two years distancing herself from.