Mike Hall MP

Labour Party | Weaver Vale

Child Care Vouchers Scheme

Mike Hall MP criticises Cheshire County Council for spending more time and money on joining the County Council’s campaign for single unitary authority at the same time not taking up the Child Care Vouchers Scheme which helps County employees with child care needs.

The Government has introduced a scheme to enable people at work to get financial support for child care.

The Child Care Vouchers Scheme enables employees to give up part of their salary and claim vouchers toward their child care costs. The cost to employers is minimal in terms of administration. The benefit for employees is significant.

Mike Hall MP has been pressing Cheshire County Council to sign up to the Child Care Vouchers Scheme for over 12 months now. However, Cheshire County Council has, so far, failed to take up this scheme and allow their employees to gain access to the Child Care Vouchers Scheme. One of the reasons given for this is the workload of the Local Government Reorganisation.

Mike Hall said:-

“Cheshire County Council has got its priorities the wrong way round. They have given substantial staff time and money to their campaign for a single unitary authority for Cheshire. This is Council Tax payer’s money. The County Council could very easily have used just a small proportion of these resources to join the Child Care Voucher Scheme and provide a real benefit for their staff.

“I am disappointed that Cheshire County Council has so far refused to join the Child Care Vouchers Scheme. It is about time they did and gave their staff access to help with the cost of child care”.