E-petition launched on raising childcare voucher cap

Childcare voucher providers have launched an e-petition to campaign for the cap on vouchers to be raised.

Childcare voucher provider, Busy Bees Benefits and the CVPA (Childcare Voucher Providers Association), with the support of other childcare organisations, want to raise the maximum an employee can choose to exchange via salary sacrifice from £55 a week to £75 a week. They say this will make childcare more affordable for working parents.

The current cap allowance has not changed since 2006 even though childcare costs have continued to rise.  They estimate raising the cap to £75 will increase savings parents can make from £933 per year to over £1200 per parent.

At the centre of the ‘Mind the Gap – Raise the Cap’ campaign is an e-petition which requires 100,000 signatures for the issue to be eligible for debate in the House of Commons.

Busy Bees Group CEO, John Woodward said: “It is imperative that parents are able to work and still afford the childcare they need.  We want to make a difference to families, raising the childcare voucher cap will provide parents with additional savings giving them more to spend on their childcare costs.  If both parents in a household join a childcare voucher scheme they could potentially save over £2,400 per year on the cost of their childcare if the campaign is successful.”

Together with other childcare organisations the CVPA are also calling for the government to extend the availability of childcare vouchers to the self-employed.  Visit the CVPA website – www.cvpa.org.uk – to register your support for the campaign.

The e-petition on raising the cap on childcare vouchers can be found here.

Busy Bees have also produced a downloadable letter on the campaign page on their website which can be simply amended and printed off for supporters to send to their local MP which will help to raising the awareness that working parents need more support.

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