Nursery World - To the point: In the balance

It's hard to remember a time in the past decade when childcare has been bigger political news, says Vidhya Alakeson.

Over the past week, the media speculation has been about the Government's plan to introduce tax relief for childcare.

There are two stories circulating about these plans. The one that has appeared in most of the papers is that the Government intends to introduce tax relief worth up to £2,000 per child. This would be a huge increase in the amount of tax relief currently offered through employer supported vouchers which is closer to £600. But it's also been suggested that this will be done largely by recycling the money currently invested in vouchers - around £700 million a year. A huge extension of tax relief without a big injection of funding doesn't add up.

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