Parents will reconsider working if childcare voucher tax break is cut

More than 60% of parents using childcare vouchers will reconsider working if tax relief on the scheme is phased out.

A poll of 1,800 parents conducted by Computershare Voucher Services also found that 57% of parents would not be able to maintain their existing childcare arrangements without the vouchers.

Almost all (98%) of the parents surveyed disagreed with Gordon Brown’s decision to phase out tax relief on the vouchers. The tax break is equivalent to a 31% saving on the first £243 spent on childcare costs each month for basic rate taxpayers, or 51% for higher rate ones.

Simon Moore, managing director of Computershare Voucher Services, said: “Parents believe that having this benefit removed could prevent them from being able to work.

“Tens of thousands of people across the country have now called on the Prime Minister to rethink his decision. Vouchers are a valued and a successful initiative that help parents, particularly mothers, to get back to work.”

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