Govt willing to negotiate families package

The federal government is willing to negotiate with Labor to exempt grandparents and single parents from cuts in its revamped families package.

Treasurer Scott Morrison revealed at the weekend he would be prepared to leave grandparents "exactly where they are now" should Labor be genuine about negotiating a deal on the policy.

However, Labor has criticised the move, with families spokeswoman Jenny Macklin saying the government's "partial retreat" was proof its policy was a "complete shambles".

The opposition believes more than one million families would be left worse off under the package and maintains savings for a pending childcare policy could be found elsewhere.

The policy announced last week is a pared-back version of the one proposed under former prime minister Tony Abbott, and would stop some family tax benefits when the youngest child reaches 13 years old.

It would also scrap family tax benefit supplements, but boost fortnightly payments by about $10.