Over the past 18 months Nursery World readers have been vociferous in their condemnation of childcare vouchers. Some have threatened to boycott them altogether, while others have proposed a surcharge on parents using them.
Complaints have centred on the fact that there is no standardisation between different companies and schemes, and that the lack of referencing of individual families' payments creates an administrative nightmare.
While vouchers clearly enable companies and their employees to reap significant financial benefits through exemptions from tax and National Insurance contributions, many nursery managers feel they have nothing to gain.
For Sarah Steel, managing director of the Oxfordshire-based Old Station Nursery chain, the lack of referencing is the biggest bugbear.
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