DURKAN TO RE-SUBMIT CHILDCARE SOS MOTION

Foyle MP Mark Durkan is to re-submit an Early Day Motion (EDM) at Westminster calling on the British government to scrap their proposal to abolish a childcare tax break which would affect 340,000 working parents throughout the UK – including thousands in Northern Ireland.

According to The Sunday Times, the Prime Minister is expected to announce that childcare vouchers, which benefit working families by up to £2,390 a year, will now be saved.

However, Mr Durkan will re-submit the ‘Childcare SOS’ motion he tabled at Westminster in October – which was signed by 88 MPs – in order to keep up pressure on the government in the run-up to the pre-budget report.

A petition to Number 10 calling for the government to stop the plans to scrap the tax exemptions has also received over 80,000 signatures.

Mr Durkan said:

“I welcome the indications of a rethink by Gordon Brown on the Childcare Voucher scheme. It is important that the government comes to its senses on this. 

“Childcare vouchers with tax relief make employment the more affordable and attractive option for many women. That is not only why thousands of people use them but also why many employers provide them.

“It is also important to note that they provide a reliable revenue component for many nurseries and childcare facilities, including some who have contacted me locally.

“When Gordon Brown announced the move to do away with the voucher scheme, he said that the money saved would go into Early Years education. However, that commitment was only for England and Wales.  I was therefore concerned that Northern Ireland was going to lose out on both sides of that policy – the removal of the vouchers and no re-directed money for Early Years education here.

“I tabled the Early Day Motion (EDM) to allow MPs to register their opposition to a bad move to remove a good scheme.  The support the EDM received from Labour back-benchers and women MPs in particular was significant.  They highlighted what the scheme meant to so many who use it and refuted the arguments for its abolition.

“I have also privately argued to ministers that the Prime Minister is in danger of repeating the 10 per cent tax mistake by removing the positive benefits which the Labour government and he in particular had actually established.

“It is important that we now have a good outcome for the ‘Childcare SOS’ campaign mounted by Employers for Childcare and supported by childcare groups and organisations concerned with the interests of women at work.

“I will therefore resubmit the ‘Childcare SOS’ motion in order to keep up pressure on the government in the run-up to the pre-budget report.”

ENDS

Note to Editors

Please find below Early Day Motion to be re-submitted by Foyle MP Mark Durkan…

CHILDCARE SOS CAMPAIGN

Durkan, Mark
 
That this House recognises the beneficial impact of the Childcare Voucher tax exemptions introduced in 2005; notes that 340,000 working parents across the UK avail themselves of the Childcare Voucher scheme and that the majority of these are basic rate taxpayers; is concerned by the Government's proposal to abolish tax relief on Childcare Vouchers; believes that middle income, hard working families who are just above the threshold for means-tested benefits would lose out most from such a change; rejects the assertion that the scheme primarily benefits those on a high income; notes that capping it at a given income would prevent undue benefit to those on higher incomes without denying assistance to those in most need; welcomes the launch of the Childcare SOS campaign by the Employers for Childcare; and calls on the Government to consider the serious implications of the proposal to hit the Childcare Voucher Scheme for worsening the gender pay gap, reducing opportunities and incentives for two parents to work, impairing the quality and affordability of childcare available to working parents and removing a key source of income for nurseries and childminders.

16.11.09