Tories call for a £500 tax perk to encourage stay-at-home mothers

The study, which is likely to be read closely by David Cameron, said too many parents who wish to look after their children are being forced back to work by financial pressures.

Society paid the price later with less well-adjusted children, it said.

Under the proposals mums would be given financial help to stay at home with their young children

It calls for radical changes to the tax and benefit system, including paying out more child benefits to parents of children up to the age of three.

This could be worth more than £500 a month to mothers who choose to stay at home.

However, if they do take advantage of the extra benefits, they will receive less when their children are older.

The proposal was made by the Centre for Social Justice, a think-tank led by Iain Duncan Smith.

The former Conservative leader claimed the Government was prioritising paid work over child rearing and 'sowing the seeds of later unhappiness'.

He said: 'We need to level the financial playing field for parents.

'The current system pressurises mothers - and it is mostly mothers - into going back to work soon after their children are born.

'Yet the research shows clearly the seeds of later unhappiness and anti-social behaviour by young people are often sown by the failure of parents to form a close loving relationship with their children.

'Society is paying a high price for the quick fix of getting mothers back to work too quickly.

'We need a fairer system in which the financial sacrifice of giving up work is offset with extra help by the tax and benefit system.'

Although the report - called The Next Generation - praised the Government's Sure Start programme, it said the scheme has moved from being about helping parents with child rearing to encouraging them to return to work early.

The report was compiled by a panel of experts led by family researcher Dr Samantha Callon.

She cited research that shows children who grow up without being soothed or calmed by their parents when they are babies are more likely to be unable to cope with stress properly, making them prone to anxiety and depression later in life.

A poll commissioned for the report found that 84 per cent of parents felt the Government should do more to support parents staying at home to look after their children.

More than four in five parents said financial reasons forced them back to work after their children were born.

The survey of nearly 3,000 parents or expectant parents, and more than 2,000 other adults, found around 70 per cent believed parents were 'encouraged' to put their children into day-care and return to work.

Among the 11 policy recommendations were calls for child care tax credits to be changed to allow the payment of relatives who care for children.