45,000 join childcare petition
A petition urging the Government not to scrap tax breaks on childcare vouchers has attracted more than 45,000 signatures, making it the fastest growing petition on the Downing Street website.
Currently, working parents can opt to make important savings on the cost of childcare by receiving £243 of their monthly pay in vouchers, which do not have tax or National Insurance deducted.
For basic rate taxpayers, the vouchers equate to a saving of 31% on the first £243 spent on childcare, while higher rate taxpayers save 51%.
However, the Government has announced that these tax breaks are set to end, with the money saved being used elsewhere.
The petition against the cut has received the support of around 45,400 people since September 29, the second highest number since the online petition website was launched.
Simon Moore, managing director of Computershare Voucher Services, the UK's largest provider of childcare vouchers, said: "We've had a huge volume of parents calling and emailing us to ask if what they've heard about the phasing out of childcare vouchers is true.
"Many of them are concerned about how they'll be able to afford to carry on working, or indeed return to work."
The vouchers, which were introduced in 2007, are currently used by around 340,000 parents in the UK.
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