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Businesses shying away from vouchers

Parents in Wales are often unable to access childcare vouchers because small businesses regard the system as too complex to administer, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).

FSB Wales spokesman Russell Lawson said that firms are reluctant tooffer the tax and national insurance saving because they do not havehuman resources departments to operate it.

Nicola James, who runs the Stepping Stones creche in Aberdare in SouthWales, said, 'People who work for larger companies can get thesevouchers and I think they should be available for more parents. I knowthat it is a lot of work to set the system up, because I looked at it,as I run a business myself.' She has just two parents using vouchers;one works for British Gas and the other for a water company.

Lucy Bosher, information manager at the Daycare Trust, outlined onesolution to the problem. She said, 'What many employers don't realise isthat directly-contracted childcare attracts exactly the same tax andNational Insurance relief (55 per week or 243 per month)as vouchers, and it can be much simpler for a smaller employer.

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