Tax-free childcare - government consultation - have your say.

[KatieMumsnet]

Hi there

The government are currently holding a consultation on their tax-free childcare proposal.

The policy, announced by David Cameron in March is a money-back scheme where working parents can get 20% of the cost of their annual childcare costs up to a maximum of £1,200 a child. It is open to all families where both parent’s work or one parent works in single-parent families. The scheme will initially be for parents of children under the age of five, but it's the government's intention to extend that eventually to parents of children under the age of 12.

You can read Mumsnet’s guide to the programme here, the discussion thread at the time of the announcement here and the full consultation doc from the government here.

If you'd like to feedback your views, the government are asking about how the vouchers might work, how eligibility should be determined and for other thoughts on the programme.

To feedback your views via a government questionnaire you can click here

Or to provide a fuller response you can click here to download a response form.

We will also collate comments here and submit them to the treasury. The closing date for the overall consultation is the 14th October, but the closing date for the questionnaire is this Friday – the 27th.

Best MNHQ

Agree with many on this thread who have already said that childcare should be fully tax deductible. All of it, not just to x amount. This should be for all families - whether one or both are working. The most simple way of doing this to my mind would be for childcare voucher scheme to be mandatory, and linked to employee rather than employer (so if an employee changes jobs they take their childcare voucher account with them). The employee can then chose to take up as much of the cost of childcare through voucher scheme as they chose, no caps, all before tax is deducted. Simple.

I don't understand why all childcare can't be paid for from pre-tax earnings. Or else why not massively subsidise childcare in the same way as a number of European countries do?

I agree- it should be entirely tax deductible- I've wondered this for years. I do also think nanny's should be registered in the same way Cmers are so that a nanny is an option available to those who work 'antisocial' hours. childcare for those hours appears to be very hard to find unless using a nanny or family, neither of which are eligible for the voucher scheme or the childcare element of working tax credits.

nannies sorry about that.

sorry - not sure I understood your post? You can register a nanny to be paid with childcare vouchers? She just needs to be ofsted registered?

ah- I wasn't aware of that- I am in NI, so not under Ofsted. here you can only claim childcare element of WTC for a CMer or registered day care provider. nannies cant be registered by the trust so you cant claim if paying a Nanny.

same for vouchers.