Nearly all employers who offer childcare vouchers to employees do so because they think it is important to give parents support with their childcare costs.
The Childcare Voucher Providers Association (CVPA) has released research which involved surveying 1,600 workplaces which offer the vouchers.
97 per cent were of the view any such scheme was a key way in offering extra help to working mums and dads.
The study hopes to go some way in determining the role vouchers could play in the government’s proposed new tax-free childcare scheme; due to be rolled out in 2015.
It is predicted the scheme will save a typical working family with two children under 12 up to £2,400 a year once it is implemented, covering 20 per cent of the cost of childcare up to a total of £6,000 per child.
In the CVPA report, 65 per cent of employers said offering childcare vouchers was an important part of their employee retention strategies.
CVPA board member Julian Foster said of the research: “It highlights not only the importance of employers in administering the current childcare voucher scheme, but demonstrates how and why employers want to continue to be involved in helping working parents with the cost of their childcare.”
Mr Foster also called on the government to outline a “defined and meaningful” role for employers to take as part of the implementation of any tax-free childcare scheme.
