Childcare vouchers

Last week I attended a meeting with Yvette Cooper MP, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in part because I wanted to raise my opposition to the abolition of tax relief on Childcare Vouchers in five years' time.

Labour has done a huge amount for working families:

• Extending maternity leave to twelve months
• Introducing a statutory right to paternity leave
• Guaranteeing a nursery place for every 3 year old whose parent wants it
• Creating SureStart Children's Centres which help young families with childcare and support

...and much much more. It's a great record and Childcare Vouchers are part of that.

The Government's argument is that by removing the tax relief they can extend childcare to fund 10 hours free childcare per week to 250,000 two-year olds from lower income families. That's a laudable aim, but it shouldn't be at the expense of denying already hardpressed working families help with childcare costs.

Since maternity leave only lasts until the child's first birthday and nursery education doesn't start until they're three, there will still be a year's gap even if the government is able to fully fund their 10 hours a week plan - and that's where Childcare vouchers really help.

Without them, working families will either have to find extra money for childcare, rely on relatives, or stop work for a year.

The Conservative view, at least here in Putney is that a two-year-old's mother's place is in the home, not at work - as expressed by local Tory councillor Kathy Tracey. No ifs, no buts.

If like me you don't believe a one-dogma-fits-all approach is a good idea then we need to find another way. And for those of us in London, the problem is more acute because childcare costs around here are so much higher than elsewhere in the country.

So while it may be true that further north and west childcare vouchers are a tax perk for the very richest families, here in South West London they make a real difference to modest and middle income working families. That's why I don't think they should be scrapped - or at least if they are to be, they need to be replaced with a more equitable scheme that doesn't discriminate against London families who need help paying expensive childcare costs.