Opinion: In my view - Save the vouchers
Alison Chalmers, director of KiddiVouchers
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Around 340,000 parents use childcare vouchers to help them afford professional childcare.
This saves each parent up to 1,196 a year in tax and nationalinsurance, helping to increase the demand for registered childcare andproviding a welcome boost to the childcare sector.
The Government recently announced plans to phase out tax relief onchildcare vouchers, with the scheme being closed to new members fromApril 2011. Parents who sign up before then will be able to continueordering tax-free childcare vouchers until April 2015.
The Government plans to replace the current voucher scheme with freechildcare for disadvantaged two-year-olds. This will probably take theform of ten hours a week of childcare during term time. Althoughchildcare vouchers will be phased out across England, Scotland, NorthernIreland and Wales, the proposed free care will only apply toEngland.
Many families rely on the savings that vouchers provide. They make itmore financially viable for mothers to return to work, and undoubtedlythe withdrawal of the scheme will cause some mothers to stay out ofwork.
Childcare providers also stand to suffer from the reduced demand forchildcare. The proposed free places for two-year-olds will provide analternative source of income for some carers. However, the existingpre-school free-place scheme is already widely criticised for itsadministrative burden and its low hourly rate.
If you believe the Government is wrong to scrap childcare vouchers, signthe petition at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/keepvouchers andcirculate this link to parents. You could also write to your MPhighlighting how the plans will affect you, and encourage parents whoaren't yet using childcare vouchers to sign up before it's too late. Tofind out more, visit www.KiddiVouchers.com or call 0800 612 7075.
If you believe the Government is wrong to scrap childcare vouchers, signthe petition at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/keepvouchers andcirculate this link to parents. You could also write to your MPhighlighting how the plans will affect you - contact details areavailable at:http://www.parliament.uk/mpslordsandoffices/mps_and_lords/alms.cfm.
