Government's "new" great childcare plan....

[duende]

I know there was a thread about it here a few weeks ago, but now a bit more detail is available:

parents to get 20% of childcare cost back

Now, I can't help but see it as a bit of a con. First of all, annoyed by how they sell it - our childcare bill is closer to 10-12k, so £1200 per year is NOT 20%.
Also, at the moment, both me and DP get the full amount available in childcare vouchers, which they will abolish. I get £243 per month, DP gets £220, and I am a higher tax payer.
Surely we will not be better off with this great new deal they have come up with?

Also, this will only be available to families where both parents work, current childcare voucher scheme is not restricted this way.

Am I missing something here, or are they about to screw people over again whilst dressing it as a positive move??

startail leave it out with the SAHPs "bring up their own DC (and WOHPs don't) bollocks, it's rude and nasty.

Nannynick, I've linked an article further up the thread that says this is per child.

If that's the case we will be slightly worse off with our one child (DH's salary sacrifice is capped in higher earnings bracket so we save £1,500 with vouchers) but better off when we have another.

I think everyone with more than one child will be better off?

Go forth and procreate then, is the message!

I'd like to see more details. I just put my details into a tax calculator and the difference between me taking max £243 per month and nothing saves me just over £930 per year. DH can only claim half of what I can now. It could be worth moving him over to reduce his tax bill and therefore child benefit cuts but it will depend on the detail. According to the BBC, vouchers will remain for existing members and closed to new claimants.

Listening to Breakfast on this: it sounds like a "pay first and claim later" system.

You can claim per child, up to age 12.

You will not be able to claim if you receive UC.

It will be available only on line.

According to the guardian this morning it is up to 6k a year, 1200 per child so cutoff 5 children. so apparently anyone with more than one child will be better off?

Not till autumn 2015 anyway, which is after the next election, so we need to see labour's proposal

We've just left voucher scheme cos DP made redundant and I understand we will get more tax credits this way. Hoping to keep little one in nursery one or two days so DP has quiet time to fill in job applications!
Why can't child care just be tax deductible with a boost through child tax credit for those whose income is too low for tax? Is that just too damn simple?

From what I have read it will not come I to effect until 2015, ie after next election. I do not think this lot will continue in power.

Quite, gregs, no need to get worried although I am not convinced that the current Opposition has actually come up with anything concrete rather than just slating.

Guardian:

The £750m scheme, which will not be introduced until the autumn of 2015, will initially apply to children under the age of five, providing help to 1.3 million families. It will eventually be extended to include children up to the age of 12.

Okay, so if my child goes into wrap-around, age 7 at that point, I can claim nothing then? Whereas, at the moment, my childminder accepts vouchers and I save money on them.

Do only parents of children under the age of 5 work then , or am I missing something here? Or will we still get vouchers whilst they change over?

It is all very alarming and confusing.

If they made it all free, there wouldn't be this problem .

God, I hope not greggs, I really hope not!

Hmm just heard more about this scheme and I'm not happy either, my 2 best mates are single mums both in nursing so I'm guessing they don't qualify.
My dh works abroad 8 months of the year, because dh is away 2 months at a time I don't work, we currently use the voucher scheme to pay for extra childcare. In the new proposals we won't be eligible.
This may be a controversial thought but why on salaries up to £150,000 that in my opinion is loaded, the cap should be £100,000 surely and why not one parent working.

Yes the further detail this morning says 'per child' but also only up to age of 5 at first. So if you've two children in childcare in 2015 and you can claim the maximum you'll be better off - but only if both of you are working. I haven't seen anything yet about what 'working' means. Do you have to both be working 30+ hours for example?

It's so incredibly unfair,how on earth do families on £150k need help,just how?

So this is what those of us on 50-60k lost our CB for so those on 100-150k get even more.

It's just utterly appalling.

And where is the help for mothers to stay at home with their children?

Based on the published information, single parents WILL be okay.

So those of us with careers down down the swannee,struggling to find anything with partners on one income of 50-60 get nothing and lose money but those families on 100-150k with double tax breaks,double pensions,careers intact not only keep their CB but get a shed load more.

Well I'm pleased single parents will be ok, but our family would be penalised for wanting to give our children stability. My dh is in defence we earn less than 40k he's away 2 months a year I don't want all my dc in childcare while I work but 3 days a week for my 2yr old would give him an advantage when starting school. I don't see why this should be taken away from us.
I am pig sick of this Government.

ROFL at the idea that £6k a year is enough for childcare. What planet are they on?

Doesn't kick in until 2015. When both DCs are over five. We already claim max vouchers (reduced because I had the audacity to move jobs) but it's a drop in the ocean tbh.

This isn't hard. Make childcare costs tax deductible, up to a sensible limit not one dreamt up by some statistician who clearly has never paid for childcare based on per child, not parent/carer occupation or numbers of adults in the house. For those on benefits, add extra credit. Pay for it with the extra tax you'll get in from the workforce. If the maths doesn't work then support SAHP properly and allow the unemployed some space.

Just stop messing about trying to look good with complicated schemes that help no-one.

I doubt I will be able to use it as DC are 9 and 7. By 2015 they will be 12 and 10 and if it is rolled out to under 5s at first it seems unlikely that there will be much time for even my younger one to benefit.

(genuine q)

why would families with a SAHP need help with childcare costs? Surely they don't have any.

We need to see what Labour say; they are likely to be the next govt, the way it stands now.

Does anyone know when they plan to roll it out to over 5s? In 2015 my 2 will be 8 and 5. I currently work very part time hours precisely because childcare is so expensive and we get no help. When my youngest starts reception in 2014 I was planning on going full-time which means we'd need wrap-around and holiday care for both children. Both me and my husband were planning to use the vouchers to help with this but if they are doing away with the vouchers for over 5s then we are really screwed!