Ok, so the Government are going to withdraw childcare vouchers

[lovelymama]

Did anyone else see this in the news tonight? I can't believe Gordon Brown thinks that this is a good idea. My partner and I rely on the vouchers to make it worth my while going back to work. Without the vouchers, I don't see the point in working and I'd just have to stop.

The idea is to spend the money on giving 'poor' people free nursery places. I completely agree with helping people on lower salaries to have childcare so they can work, but do people who have worked hard to get a decent job have to be penalised? It doesn't quite seem fair to me.

I don't think Gordon is going to get the votes of my family at the next election. Please consider this issue when you're voting!

I can see the point of bumping this and setting up petitions etc.

All parties say a lot of things before general elections. There hasn't been a general election yet, so we don't even know that the current government will be in power to implement the change.

I can't see the point....

Because if enough people sign it they may actually change notice?

Because a lot of people use childcare vouchers, and if Labour manage to get in again, it could be come law...

Who would not want to know that they may be worse off under a labour (or whichever) government?

It certainly affects a lot of people.

Won't the tories scrap all these sorts of things anyway - i mentioned ro Dh earlier they would prob scrap childcare vouchers - we have just applied for them haven't come through yet.

whatever stage of my life i am at policy always seems to go against me [shrug]

To those who assume that because I work in an investment bank I must earn lots of money - think again! We're not all on huge bonuses you know. Also, I bought my modest, 3 bed terrace as my first house in the height of the housing boom so my mortgage is massive. And by the time i've taken off my travel costs, lunch money etc, i don't have loads left over.

Of course, i could afford to pay the nursery costs if the vouchers are taken away but the money i was left with wouldn't make it worth my while getting in to the office for 7am, being away from my child for 50 hours a week and doing a 2 hour commute - as mspotatochip said, it's about the psychological impact the scrapping of the vouchers will have, not just the financial.

Thanks for sending the link to the petition - I've signed it and have sent it to my friends/family. Hope everyone signs it. We can't moan about these things without trying to stick up to these awful people!

we're all going to be worse off under any government though.

if it isn't childcare vouchers it will be something else.

Cuts are going to have to happen and something has to give.

I do think that the ten hours a week for two year olds sounds like a gimic - if they are scrapping childcare vouchers it should be as part of the spending cuts, not because they want to introduce something that won't benefit many people.

There is much worse to come in terms of public spending cuts coupled with tax rises and it will make little difference which party wins the next election. Public sector borrowing has to be reigned in and the debt paid back. For a sobering reminder of the scale of the problem visit this link:

link

If its not the vouchers it will be something else. Get used to it

BUMP!

www.petitions.number10.gov.uk/keepvouchers/

God, this is really going to affect our family. We get half our chilcare paid for by vouchers, that's £450, am never going to be able to continue with an extra £450 to find each month.

I don't think it can save you that much indie. I think I read somewhere it can save you up to 900ish per year (that's probably each so 1800ish). But if I times my 243 by 12 it's over 2k.

Or am I missing something and is it saving me more than I thought! It's taken off before tax and NI, but I don't think it can be all made of what would be tax and NI.

??? someone out there must know this stuff.

oh for gods sake do you lot really believe they will win the next election?

why dont yo concentrate your energies on working out what to do when the tories take away tax deductible vouchers, child tax credits and probably child benefit as well..

erm indiechick you do realise you pay for the £450 worth of vouchers. they come out of your salary before tax, so you only get tax relief on them...

Signed.
Fortunately my 2 dc are at school now so our childcare bill has reduced, however after school club is £9/hour for them both which would really eat into my part time money which is considerably less than the rate I used to get pre - kids !
I must admit to not having really seen the news, but what use is 2 hours a day to anyone and is it just going to be used by people shoving their kids into childcare and then sitting at home doing nothing or are the parents required to work?

ML

HerHonesty - they're planning to bring it in BEFORE the election. Which means that even if the Tories get in it will still stand. However, even if the Tories do something similar, trying to stop this happening would at least save a few months worth of money, if successful.

also - it is a measure aimed specifically at working women (who usually earn less than their partners and hence will end up being the one to give up their jobs) so it is worth fighting for gender equality reasons as much as social equality.

calm down kathy. somehow, i can think of things they are more likely to do in the remaining 6 months they actually have in office. in anycase in the very very unlikely scenario they get elected you will not loose the benefit until 2015, see below. and the money is to be allocated at more free nursery places for the less well off. Now, why dont you write to your local tory MP or candidate and see if they will maintain childcare vouchers? hmmm. somehowe i think they might fob you off with a "we are considering all options"

nb vouchers are not aimed at working women, its aimed at working parents. you save about 1100 a year if you are higher tax rate and 750 if you are lower and yes it is after tax and NI.

"From April 2011, employees who join an employer-supported voucher scheme will not be entitled to the existing exemptions. Existing recipients of vouchers will be unaffected until April 2015, when the exemptions for vouchers will be withdrawn completely"

You're missing the point and making factual errors again, as in your previous post HerHonesty.
The scheme will be closed to new entrants from April.
Vouchers are available to both parents but it will be women who suffer disproportionately because they are in most cases the lower earners, particularly after having children. This is why it is a gender issue. Cutting the vouchers is a measure intended to affect women and take them out of the labour market.

actually i think you'll find i posted directly from the bloody press release so no factual errors there. I'm not missing the point at all - just pointing out to you that its a parental benefit not a woman only benefit.

in some ways it may will benefit women more - lower paid women will continue to benefit from free nursery places - particularly because employers dont have to offer vouchers. This is particularly true of employers who have large numbers of low paid and part time workers choose not to - so for example, one well known supermarket does not offer the facility. nursery places are not contingent on your employer - they are contingent on your income.

and the introduction of childcare vouchers didnt actually improve the numbers of working mothers.

OMG thanks for posting this, i had no idea! Am going to send the petition link to every working parent i know.

Great i gep paid with childcare vouchers as do many other nannyies.

The only way my boss can afford to employ me is because they both get the vouchers through work so don't pay tax an ni on them

This will affect alot more people than you realise