The end is in sight for Childcare Vouchers
September 30, 2009
Having just implemented a childcare voucher scheme in my organisation, I’m quite surprised and a bit perplexed at yesterday’s announcement that the existing tax breaks on childcare voucher schemes are to be removed from 2015. The Government described the existing schemes as ‘badly targeted tax reliefs’, because apparently around one third of the tax relief goes to higher tax payers, which is a very small amount of parents in the UK. However 35,000 employers currently offer childcare vouchers, and this helps 340,000 families with their childcare needs.
Gordon Brown said that the reforms are being used to generate money that will be used to provide free childcare for lower earning parents. However as would be expected, many of the leading voucher providers have criticised the plans, as this will make family life and balancing the struggles of work and childcare more difficult for many. With the possibility of savings of up to £1,000 for parents that are involved in a scheme, this is quite a big dent on family income, and could have an effect on the number of parents that are able to work when they have children.
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