Last year Busy Bees Benefits campaigned to make childcare more affordable by calling on the Government to raise the cap on Childcare Vouchers. This campaign received an overwhelming response and it is clear that working parents want more financial support with their childcare costs to enable them to continue to work.As you will have heard, the Government is launching a new childcare funding scheme in the Autumn of 2015 to provide working parents with support to help make their childcare more affordable.
The new Tax-free Childcare scheme will see the Government subsidising childcare costs for all children under the age of 5 providing both parents in a household are working or lone parents are working.
There are however, compared to the savings parents can make through using Childcare Vouchers to pay for their childcare, many working parents will be worse off under this new scheme.
Dedicated to helping working parents save money on their childcare costs, Busy Bees Benefits has launched their new ‘Mind the Gap – Raise the Cap’ campaign.
Under the new scheme, the Government will be contributing 20% of childcare costs. The 20% subsidy will apply to childcare costs of up to £6,000 per child, per year, saving up to £1,200 per child, per year, for children under the age of 5.
Childcare costs rise each year in line with staff costs as the largest outgoing for childcare providers is wages. The average cost of childcare is currently £7,500, therefore, not only is the £6,000 cap already below average, by the time the scheme is implemented the gap between the savings available and the cost of childcare will have widened further.
Consequently, to preserve the value of the Tax-free Childcare scheme, the Government would need to increase the cap each year.
There are however, compared to the savings parents can make through using Childcare Vouchers to pay for their childcare, many working parents will be worse off under this new scheme.
Dedicated to helping working parents save money on their childcare costs, Busy Bees Benefits has launched their new ‘Mind the Gap – Raise the Cap’ campaign.
About the campaign:
Under the new scheme, the Government will be contributing 20% of childcare costs. The 20% subsidy will apply to childcare costs of up to £6,000 per child, per year, saving up to £1,200 per child, per year, for children under the age of 5.
Childcare costs rise each year in line with staff costs as the largest outgoing for childcare providers is wages. The average cost of childcare is currently £7,500, therefore, not only is the £6,000 cap already below average, by the time the scheme is implemented the gap between the savings available and the cost of childcare will have widened further.
Consequently, to preserve the value of the Tax-free Childcare scheme, the Government would need to increase the cap each year.
An e-petition has been set up which aims to:
- Prompt the Government to increase the cap in line with rises in childcare costs before the scheme is implemented.
- Persuade the Government to commit to reviewing and increasing the cap annually in line with National Minimum Wage changes.
The e-petition:
What can you do to help?
- Sign the e-petition. 100,000 signatures are required to make the issue eligible for debate in the House of Commons.
- Ask all your friends, colleagues and family to sign the petition.
- Follow us on Twitter and retweet links about the campaign.
- Like us on Facebook and share links about the campaign.
For more information about the campaign please visit www.busybeesbenefits.com
