The Bishop of Exeter says the Government is failing to follow up its “rhetoric” about supporting family life with “substance”.
Speaking specifically about stay-at-home mums, Rt Revd Michael Langrish said: “The concern for me is for those who have made a principled decision to stay at home and taken the financial hit.
“It is actually unfair and against the Government’s own rhetoric.”
Penalised
It comes as an analysis of statistics from the Labour Party claimed stay-at-home mothers will be £77-a-week worse off this year compared to when the coalition Government came to power.
Speaking at the end of last month, the Bishop of Exeter commented that a parent who makes a “conscious decision to stay at home for the children”, “shouldn’t be penalised”.
Rt Revd Michael Langrish continued: “The evidence is that what the parent is doing is investing in a child’s development which can save the state significant amounts of money at a later stage.
“It helps children to develop into adults who are more likely to fulfil their potential and make a net contribution to society.”
Rhetoric
He added: “There’s a lot of research which shows getting parenting right in those early years has a positive impact on health, on education and on social behaviour”.
And the bishop said: “We hear a lot from the Government about support for this and yet that rhetoric does not seem to be translated into public policy.
“I have a general concern that we’ve had a lot of rhetoric about the support for family life and good parenting.
Lose
“If the rhetoric had substance I would expect that to be reflected in public policy decisions.”
Labour said its analysis showed a single earner family with children will lose an average of £3,995 in the financial year – more than twice as much as other family types considered.
The party said the Institute for Fiscal Studies agreed with its analysis, but a senior Treasury source described it as “flawed”.