Childcare is increasingly becoming part of the benefits packages employers offer to recruit and retain staff. The Government has given this further impetus in the budget by increasing tax and national insurance exemptions and providing funds for workplace nurseries.
The recent Laing and Buisson annual nursery market report showed that employers spent 420m in 2005 - 12.5 per cent of the total market - either on direct provision through workplace nurseries or on corporate childcare vouchers.
In his budget, Chancellor Gordon Brown announced the tax and national insurance exemption would be raised from 50 to 55 a week on the costs of registered childcare. That equates to 243 a month and just over Pounds 2,900 a year. The Government also surprised many in the sector by providing 16m over two years to help small- and medium-sized businesses create workplace nurseries.
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