Yes, it’s a bad way of setting a threshold as it isn’t fair. As you say, you could have a couple on a joint income of £199,999 qualifying and then a couple where one is earning £100k exactly not qualifying. Child benefit is exactly the same! I think something like financial help with childcare should be available to everyone with extra help for those that really need it. Another bug bear of mine is that many people end up at breakeven when they reconcile their childcare costs with their wages.