Government welcomes judgment by Supreme Court, for a launch date for ’Tax-Free Childcare’
With the Governments continued plans to support working families within the UK, last week’s focus was on the delivery of Tax-Free Childcare.
Wednesday 1st July saw the Government welcome a Supreme Court’s judgment, confirming that the proposal for Tax-Free Childcare is rightful, with plans now to launch in early 2017, a year later than initially suspected. In the meantime the current Employer-Supported Childcare scheme will stay in place for new entrants until the Tax-Free Childcare is launched, with the current scheme only operating if an employer continues to do so.
The development of the new scheme had been put on hold, due to a small group of childcare voucher suppliers who challenged the Governments plans to provide Tax-Free Childcare accounts through HMRC in partnership with NS&I. However, the Supreme Court dismissed their claims, on the ground of the contract falling under Public Contracts Regulation 2015.
Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury Damian Hinds, comments on the recent case;
“We are pleased that the government’s proposals for delivering Tax-Free Childcare have been found to be clearly lawful”
“We are now pressing ahead with the scheme as part of our ongoing commitment to support working families.”
With an increase of £1 billion spent on childcare in the last Parliament, it is estimated that the new online Tax-Free Childcare scheme will assist 1.8 million families across the UK, providing them with up to £2,000 of childcare support for each child every year. The government are also pledging to increase the amount of free childcare to 30 hours a week for working parents of three and four year olds.
To find out more about the recent court case and the Tax-Free Childcare Scheme please CLICK HERE.