Editor's view

Nannies and parents may have scarcely believed their ears when Chancellor Gordon Brown, delivering this month's Budget, said, 'Support for childcare costs should include help with approved childcare in your own home.' This is exactly what the Government has resisted for so long in excluding nannies from any tax breaks or subsidies given to parents paying for childcare. Of course, everything may hinge on that word 'approved', and the types of childcarers used as well as the types of parents using them who qualify for help, starting one year from now, may end up being quite limited. Just how the...