THE new universal credit childcare payment scheme will “directly conflict” with attempts to get people back to work, MPs have said.

A report by the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee published today said that making parents pay up front for childcare costs will leave homes potentially waiting months to be reimbursed.

The report, which has been compiled over the past year, claims that 100,000 poor households will be receiving less for childcare costs than under the present system.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) claims that the new system will reduce fraud and dishonest childcare claims.

However, the committee believes that many families will be put into making a “stark choice” over whether to decline an insufficient job offer or to put themselves into debt – whether that be with the DWP or with loved ones.

They concluded that the government’s approach is “in direct conflict with universal credit’s wider objectives” and recommend that the controversial new benefits system starts paying child support directly to families.

Committee chairman Frank Field said: “If the government had set out to design a system to make it harder for parents to get into work, it could hardly have done better than this one.

“It’s not just driving parents into despair and debt and creating problems for childcare providers – it’s also actively working to prevent the government achieving its own aim of getting more people into work.”

Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner said: “Universal credit risks locking families who need support with childcare costs out of work entirely.

“Parents, and mothers in particular, trying to get back into work face upfront bills of thousands of pounds and risk falling into debt as they often wait months to be paid back.

“Denying those families who most need this support simply entrenches inequality and will push more children and families into poverty.”

A DWP spokeswoman said: “This report doesn’t acknowledge that with universal credit childcare is more generous.

“Working parents can claim back up to 85 per cent of eligible costs, compared to 70 per cent on the old system.”