The Childcare Voucher Providers Association (CVPA) has highlighted that there have been a wide range of difficulties reported so far by parents.
According to Nursery World several providers have reported not being able to sign up to Tax-Free Childcare (TFC), either because they have not received a temporary password from HMRC, or the one they have been sent doesn’t work.
It follows concerns by the CVPA that parents wanting to use TFC will be ‘left in the lurch’ because only a third of providers in the UK have signed up to the scheme.
The CVPA is urging parents to think carefully before switching irreversibly from childcare vouchers to TFC – not just because of the issues reported so far, but also because many families could actually be worse off financially through TFC compared to childcare vouchers.
The CVPA is also calling on the government to reconsider their plans to close vouchers to new users from April next year, as they believe it is far too premature to close off a popular, well-established and functioning scheme.
