CHILDCARE VOUCHERS
Government urged to review decision to scrap tax break for childcare vouchers
Nine former ministers today urged Gordon Brown to rethink his decision to scrap tax relief on childcare vouchers, according to a report in The Guardian newspaper.
Patrick Wintour, the author of the report, writes: “The warning came from normally loyal former ministers – including Patricia Hewitt, Estelle Morris, Hilary Armstrong, Beverley Hughes and Caroline Flint – who say the plans to cut childcare vouchers for more than 340,000 parents are ‘greatly unfair’ and ‘mark the undoing of one of Labour's landmark achievements’."
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Background
The government has outlined plans to scrap tax and national insurance contribution exemptions for childcare vouchers provided by an employer. Instead, it intends to offer free childcare for 250,000 two-year-olds, the prime minister announced at the Labour Party conference in Brighton on 29 September 2009. Further details of the changes are expected in the pre-budget report on 9 December 2009.
Want to know more
Title: “Gordon Brown warned: axing childcare vouchers will cost Labour seats”, by Patrick Wintour, guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 10 November 2009.
Availability: To read the article online visit www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/nov/10/gordon-brown-minister-childcare-vouchers.