Brown failing working parents in NI

The Ulster Unionist Party has strongly criticised Gordon Brown's announcement at the Labour Party Conference that he intends to scrap the highly successful child care vouchers scheme.

The move will penalize hard-working parents in Northern Ireland and throughout the UK. In axing this highly successful service Gordon Brown has said that he will replace child care vouchers with sponsored childcare places for only some parents. He also failed to say was that these places would only be available in England and will only equate to two hours per day.

The child care vouchers scheme provide working parents with support for flexible childcare appropriate to a family's need. The scheme is also, importantly, business-friendly - working with, rather than against, businesses to support families with children.
Many working families depend on these vouchers. In Northern Ireland alone, 8000 'modest income' families save £1000 per year with the scheme. It allows them to afford professional childcare and for that service to be taken away is an absolute disgrace. It is a slap in the face to working parents and highlights that Gordon Brown and the Labour Party are failing families and failing Northern Ireland.