We are calling all parents, employers and MLA’s to back our petition to increase awareness on financial support available to help drive down the costs of childcare, thousands of families in Northern Ireland are losing out financially.

Currently ONLY 13% of families are utilising support available. Parents can access either the Childcare Voucher Scheme or the childcare element of Working Tax Credits. Both forms of help can lead to thousands of pounds in savings. The low level of take-up is due to the lack of awareness amongst parents and indeed our employers on the financial benefits.

Both forms of help come directly from the Treasury and are not taken from the Northern Ireland block grant. Therefore, an increased uptake amongst parents would be good news for NI Plc. Bringing down the cost of childcare means that more parents will stay in the work place and will have more disposable income. This is good news for employers and our local economy.

So far almost 1000 people have signed the Childcare Affordability NI petition.  Many thanks to everyone who supports the campaign and to those who have left messages spelling out exactly why childcare affordability is so important to working parents, employers and childcarers throughout Northern Ireland:

"If it hadn't been for a good employer who highlighted the options I may never have known about the vouchers which save my family £160 per month. The public needs to be educated about their options." (Parent)

"As I have responsibilty for employee benefits working in HR, I think the promotion of childcare is really important as part of maintaining a good work-life balance and making savings." (Employer)

"As a child care provider who has promoted the use of Vouchers and Tax credits I can confirm that a wide uptake by parents does result in an increase in the quality of care that can be provided, which was the stated aim when the voucher scheme was introduced. Good [child]care is expensive to provide and we welcome the fact that parents dont have to shoulder all of the cost themselves." (Childcare Provider)

Click here to sign our petition and you can follow our progress by liking us on  facebook.