Whilst out campaigning in Braintree last week I was asked about the Conservative party's policies in relation to the cost of childcare.

Finding affordable childcare can be one of the biggest challenges for parents wanting to go back to work.  I am keen that parents and guardians have as much choice as possible in their work life balance and Conservatives have introduced a policy specifically to support working families.

In the 2014 budget George Osborne announced changes to the tax free support for childcare, from September 2015 it will go up to £2,000 a year for each child.

The tax-free childcare scheme will increase from £1,200 to up to £2,000 a year per child and extended the scheme from under-7s to all children under 12.

So from September almost two million working parents will qualify for tax-free childcare. More details of the scheme are available here.