The report, by the think-tank Demos, suggests the vouchers be rebrandedas "family life vouchers" that can be spent on a range of activitiesother than childcare. The authors argue this would empower parents tomake decisions that are genuinely in their children's interests.
"Currently, childcare vouchers enable parents to outsource the mostsignificant of family activities," the report states. "We recommend thatthe purpose of these vouchers should be expanded, and repositioned asfamily life vouchers. Parents would be free to decide what elements offamily activity they wanted to outsource.
"Some parents may choose to spend them on cleaning, to give them morequality time with their children. Others may use the vouchers to coverthe costs of transport from their child's school if they are unable toget there on time to pick them up.
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