Childcare overhaul aims to match Europe The "childcare trap" is a subject of intense debate at the school gates and NCT coffee mornings, as mothers try to calculate whether they will be better off going to work and paying for care, or staying at home with their children. Faced with the highest childcare costs in Europe, bar Switzerland and Ireland, many British women opt to ditch their careers. The UK ranks 16th in the OECD in terms of mothers going back to work, with 67.1 per cent of mothers in employment against over 84 per cent in Denmark, 78.5 per cent in the Netherlands and 73.6 per cent in France. Next week, Elizabeth Truss, the education minister, will set out to redress this by announcing a radical overhaul of Britain's childcare system. Her approach to reduce the cost of care is two-pronged. First, deregulation of the sector to allow nurseries and childminders to look after more children per adult. The second imperative is to offer more financial support for families with very young children. Due to be announced on Tuesday, the measures will bring the UK more into line with its European neighbours. The current ratio of one member of staff to every four two-year-olds will be increased to one carer for every six toddlers. This should make childcare cheaper by increasing the supply of places, and attract more people into the profession by making childminding a more lucrative job. The majority of the public money the UK spends on childcare goes to educational institutions for children over three years old. Only a minority goes to subsidise daycare for under-3s, despite the UK having a relatively high proportion of under-3s in formal childcare - 41 per cent in 2008. In addition to deregulation, the government is working on a new voucher scheme which will give up to £1.5bn to help to working families. It will give parents "at least" £1,000 a year in extra support for childcare and is due to be launched in April 2014, say government aides. In several other OECD countries - the Netherlands, Slovenia, Australia and Switzerland - childcare costs form a greater proportion of the average wage than in Britain. But in all these countries, except the UK and Switzerland, the costs are offset by substantial public childcare benefits, bringing the net cost to families down. While there is a clear economic imperative to get women back into work, there is also a political calculation in all of this. David Cameron's Conservatives hope that extra support for families struggling to pay for childcare will appeal to women voters who have deserted the party in droves since the 2010 election: the latest polls show the party trailing Labour by 16 points. The Tories also hope the promise of extra money will offer some consolation to higher earning families who lost out following the government's decision to means test child benefit. The Liberal Democrats had wanted to target childcare support to low and middle earners, but the Conservatives were insistent that wealthier families also received extra support, according to politicians and aides familiar with the discussions. The Resolution Foundation worries that the government's new plans for financial support will not be taken up by those who need it most. "Tax relief on childcare mainly benefits more affluent households so it would be a real worry if the government poured scarce resources into this," said Gavin Kelly, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation think-tank. But it is encouraging if they are considering revising universal credit to make it worthwhile for parents to work more hours. The new voucher scheme will not be available to unemployed parents or those who receive tax credits but Nick Clegg, deputy prime minister, has insisted on a separate support package to help those going into the new universal credit system, which comes into force later this year. Additional reporting by Elaine Moore