The early part of 2014 has seen a slowing of the Government-led news on the Employee Benefits front.
This has been something of a surprise, as we are overdue announcements on The Health and Work Service (HWS), the tax break for medical interventions, the charges cap (and related issues) on Auto-Enrolment Pensions, and more detailed proposals on the proposed replacement for Childcare Vouchers - Tax Free Childcare.
Indeed, it has been so quiet that I was beginning to suspect that the Coalition were intending to use Budget week as an opportunity for a big push to take over the news agenda. And early indications suggest that this may in fact be the case.
For the truce has broken today with media announcements regarding the Childcare issue. For those who have yet to pick up on this, here is a link to the BBC story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26618139
The key part of this story for me is not the increase in the proposed benefit level (although that is of course important) - rather the significant movement made in the maximum child age to benefit from this proposed assistance. Previously, it was suggested that the benefits would only be available to children aged 5 or under, whereas now this has moved to age 12 or under. This is a welcome and sensible move.
It does however appear that families with two parents and one earner will still be excluded from these proposals.
I will await the official documents to comment further on this. Either way, I expect this will also feature, at least in passing, in the Budget speech on Wednesday.
Best regards
Steve
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