Gordon Brown has proposed the meanest attack on children since Maggie Thatcher the Milk Snatcher.

Since 2005, working parents have been able to save on childminder and nursery costs via a childcare vouchers scheme. It’s a salary sacrifice scheme that means you don’t pay tax or national insurance on childcare up to a certain amount and you can save a few thousand pounds a year. While it wouldn’t pay for full-time childcare, it helps. As the care providers have to be OFTED registered it supports quality childcare too.

Gordon Brown told this year’s Labour Party conference he was planning to phase out the scheme, to pay for free childcare for two-year-olds.This seems bizarre, as the two-year-olds will presumably grow older and still need childcare before they start primary school and even then, they’ll need supervision after school and in the holidays. The current scheme has its problems. There are several voucher providers, each with their own system. The onus is on the employer to offer a scheme and carers to accept vouchers before a parent can benefit. But taking the concession away will be an admission of failure for the Government as well as a financial blow to hard-pressed working parents.

You can read more about this here  and sign a petition here

This week, the Guardian has picked up the issue. I have written to comment. Letter to the Guardian

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