Children’s Car Seat Petition

As a parent you naturally want the best for your child. It is also one of the most expensive times of your life – it is estimate that you will spend £7,000 in the first year of their life alone! Child safety is a big concern for all parents, and having your child safe and secure in a car seat is incredibly important. Currently, children’s car seats have a 5% VAT on them. This costs families around £31 million each year – and that doesn’t take into account extra seats that grandparents/childminders may purchase.

This tax is unfair and adds even more strain to families who may already be struggling to meet all the costs of raising a young family. Halfords have launched a campaign to end this tax. For six weeks, from Tuesday 2nd September to Monday 17th November they are selling all of their car seats and boosters at a cost equililant to a zero rate VAT.

Even though this is our fourth child, having a gap of almost six years means we’ve pretty much had to start out from scratch in purchasing all that he will need. Even by only purchasing the necessities it still costs a lot to kit out a baby and all it needs, so every little saving helps. While many items you can get away with purchasing second hand, a car seat is not one of them. Unless you can be 100% certain that it has never been in an accident, or has no damage, taking that risk with your child’s safety simply isn’t worth the risk.

I’ve signed the petition calling for the EU to scrap this car seat tax, you can find out more information about Halfords campaign here and sign the petition here.