For the latest media coverage on Gordon Brown’s decision, take a look at some of these links:

Petition over childcare tax break
The Press Association - ‎20 hours ago
More than 22000 parents are calling on the Government to abandon plans to scrap tax breaks on childcare vouchers. Around 22300 people have added their names …

Voucher firms condemn plans to end parents’ tax relief
Nursery World - Catherine Gaunt – ‎5 hours ago‎
Childcare voucher companies have hit back at Government plans to scrap tax relief and National Insurance …

Opinion: To the point – Helping two-year-olds
Nursery World - ‎5 hours ago‎
Gordon Brown’s announcement of more free early education and childcare for two- year-olds is a serious attempt to develop early years policy, yet it strikes

Opinion: Editor’s view – New measures from the Government
Nursery World - ‎5 hours ago‎
New measures from the Government do not bode well for many in the early years. For every bit of good news for the early years sector at the moment, …

Childcare vouchers campaign gathers pace
Employee Benefits - ‎21 hours ago‎
The campaign against the government’s decision to abolish tax relief on childcare vouchers has gathered pace with childcare providers lobbying politicians …

Early years sector rallies with petition against childcare voucher withdrawal
Nursery World - Catherine Gaunt – ‎21 hours ago‎
More than 7000 people have signed a petition calling for the Government to re-think plans to scrap tax …

We will fight to defend marriage: Rising Tory star vows tax breaks for wedded …
Daily Mail - James Chapman – ‎9 hours ago‎
She also criticised Gordon Brown’s plans to axe childcare vouchers for middle-class families in order to pay for free childcare for two-year-olds from …

Kid-Tax Outrage Fury (quotes Simon Moore)
Daily Star
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/posts/view/102578

At the Tory Party Conference yesterday, Shadow Minister for the Family Maria Miller responded to Gordon Brown’s announcement about Childcare Vouchers – read more in today’s Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1218903/We-fight-defend-marriage-Rising-Tory-star-vows-tax-breaks-wedded-couples.html

Thousands of parents across Britain are rebelling against proposals by Gordon Brown to scrap Childcare Vouchers.

The move by Brown – announced last week – will see around 340,000 parents lose out on tax breaks for childcare.

The policy had previously been heralded by the Labour Government, which introduced it in 2007, but was scrapped without notice during Gordon Brown’s conference speech in Brighton last week.

Since then, however, already 10,000 parents have signed a petition calling on the Government to save the vouchers, which can save families up to £2,392 each year on childcare.

The scheme was designed to make it easier for parents to return to work after having a child.

The online petition is now one of the fastest growing on the Downing Street website. It can be found at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/keepvouchers/.

Simon Moore, managing director of Computershare Voucher Services, the UK’s largest provider of vouchers said: “The outrage that has greeted the Prime Minister’s announcement has been phenomenal.

“These vouchers are a real benefit to hundreds of thousands of hardworking parents and Brown’s callous dismissal of them has caused real anger.

“I am not at all surprised that parents are protesting against this cut. In fact I expect this to continue and for childcare to become a key battleground in the upcoming elections.”

There was a good piece on the Childcare Voucher issue in yesterday’s Scotland on Sunday:

http://business.scotsman.com/6983/Battle-looms-over-bid-to.5701511.jp

Jenny Booth writes in the Times Online today that political parties are getting it wrong on childcare, saying that “…childcare costs should be tax deductible. If there ever was an essential work-related expense, then it’s getting your kids looked after.”

Read the full article here: http://bit.ly/GfApn

Simon Moore, managing director of Busy Bees Childcare Vouchers, said: “Since the government announced its plans to scrap the childcare vouchers scheme, stripping thousands of parents of vital and much needed savings reaching anywhere up to £2400 a year, fierce opposition has been growing.

“We cannot stress how important these savings are for so many families, from all walks of society and what an impact this will have.

“One of the major concerns we have heard from parents is that losing the savings vouchers bring could mean they are left unable to afford to return to work – something the government seems to have neglected to consider.

“So many families, including those at the very core of our society, working on the front line for the NHS or emergency services, are already struggling with heavy financial pressures and losing these benefits will only add to their hardship.”

If you are one of the parents who may need to give up work if the vouchers scheme is scrapped, then please get in touch!

Busy Bees, the UK’s leading childcare voucher scheme provider, has branded Labour’s plans to strip a key tax benefit from thousands of working parents as a ‘disgrace’, saying an end to tax relief on childcare vouchers will effectively remove over £800 a year from the salaries of front line staff in the NHS and Emergency Services.

Simon Moore, managing director of Busy Bees Childcare Vouchers, says: “Gordon Brown pledged to protect middle England – but it is these people who are to suffer the most if the childcare vouchers scheme is scrapped.

“Busy Bees currently administer schemes for 110,000 working parents across the UK and the NHS and Primary Care Trusts represent 14% of the voucher value that we administer.

“From our figures alone, NHS and PCT staff can be seen to be benefiting from an annual saving totalling £12 million across 14,000 staff members. In addition, the savings gained for the NHS and PCTs as an employer come in at £3.5 million per year.

“Police, Fire and Ambulance staff also currently benefit from annual savings of £2.8 million across 3,700 staff members, and as employers, services save £900,000 per year.

“It is a disgrace that working parents may lose tax relief on childcare vouchers and we are fighting for the rights of working parents, to keep this benefit and the savings that are so vital for so many.”

Childcare Vouchers are an employee benefit that can save families up to £2,392 a year on registered childcare.

Busy Bees Childcare Vouchers are backing a petition to save childcare vouchers, visit http://www.vouchersblog.co.uk, or for more information follow SimonSays_CVS on Twitter.

Reaction to the announcement yesterday has been widespread and passionate – so many people benefit from Childcare Vouchers and want them to stay. To add your voice to the campaign, visit http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/keepvouchers/ and sign the e-petition started by Mrs Dee Atkin to keep Childcare Vouchers.

Here’s a selection of stories from this morning:

The Sun: £2400 cost of childcare reform plan

The Daily Mail:  ‘Mugging for the middle classes’: Brown’s free childcare for poor could cost better-off families £2,000 a year

Simon Moore, managing director of Busy Bees Childcare Vouchers  (soon to be known as Computershare Voucher Services),  the UK’s leading provider of childcare voucher schemes, said: “Working parents already struggling under heavy financial pressures could be dealt a devastating blow if a move to scrap the childcare vouchers system, as has been hinted today, are carried out by the next Labour government.
 
“In his speech this afternoon, Gordon Brown signalled that childcare is to be a key battle ground in the upcoming election.
 
“He has proposed that an extension be introduced to the free childcare places scheme – but it has been hinted that this extension may come at the expense of the childcare vouchers system.
 
“For the hundreds of thousands of working parents across the UK who currently use childcare vouchers, this would mean an end to the thousands of pounds in vital savings they are entitled to on registered childcare.  Scrapping vouchers would hit the very core of people Gordon Brown is professing to care for, as a huge portion of parents taking vouchers from us are employed in the NHS, Emergency Services and small to medium sized enterprises.
 
“While plans to scrap the scheme are yet to be confirmed by Gordon Brown, we are shocked that any such move is even being considered. It is one which will wound the British middle classes, the very people the party claims to be fighting for.
 
“What the Prime Minister should be doing is expanding the voucher model into other communities that sorely need the tax saving they provide such as the elderly care market, where families are struggling to fund the care of older relatives in nursing homes across the UK. While in power, Labour have really missed a trick in the wider applications and benefits that the vouchers systems, as a close-loop system, can offer.”