Childcare payments under Universal Credit 'directly conflict' with the Government's key aim of getting more people into work, according to a powerful Commons committee.

A report by the Work and Pensions Committee said making parents pay for childcare costs upfront and then claim reimbursement from the Government can leave households waiting weeks or even months to be paid back.

Its chairman, veteran backbencher 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.

Universal Credit childcare payments '˜stopping parents getting into work'