Guest blog: extra help for childcare costs - good news for single parents? Well, yes - and no.

[KateMumsnet]

In today's guest blog, Caroline Davey of Gingerbread looks at how the latest proposals for help with childcare costs will affect single parents, for whom lack of affordable childcare can cause particular difficulty.

She gives the govt's plans a cautious welcome, but says the devil is in the detail; for example, it's not yet clear whether there will be support for the parents of over-fives, which is precisely when parents who've been at home with their children are obliged to seek work.

Read her post, and tell us what you think. If you're a single parent, do you struggle to find the childcare that you need in order to work - and will these new proposals affect you? If you blog on this subject, don't forget to post your URLs here on the thread.

[Meglet]

I need to ask a thicky question here. Is the 20% of childcare costs replacing the 70% childcare tax credits that low earning single parents currently get?