Childcare voucher changes put back after chaotic start
THE switch from employer-backed childcare to the new system of tax-free vouchers has been put back six months.
Thousands of families have had problems with the new system.
But Chief Secretary to the Treasury Elizabeth Truss said the move was to allow better monitoring of the transition.
Labour called tax-free childcare “a disaster”. Thou- sands of families have been unable to either set up tax-free accounts or access the money they had paid into them. Childcare vouchers and directly contracted childcare will close to new entrants on October 4, Ms Truss said. She added: “After that, parents already using vouchers can continue to do so.” Shadow Chief Secretary, Peter Dowd, said: “Parents are struggling with a complex and chronically underfunded system.”