Childcare Vouchers: cut childcare costs by £1,000/year Discussion Area

Torkijo

Hi

Does anyone know what happens if i change job re this?

I am currently in a scheme but under threat of redundancy, if i secure another job after 6th April straight away after leaving this one would i still be able to get current deal or would i be on the new rates?

Leg-end_2

Hope i am not repeating a question already asked but its quite a long thread.

How safe is your money when held by one of these companies?

If you build up a pot in advance of needing the funds you could have saved over a thousand pounds towards future childcare. This would be locked into a scheme with one of the companies offering the service.

I may be wrong but I believe that once you have sacrificed your salary you can’t get it back.

If one of these firms went into administration, closed etc. are your funds as good as lost or has the government implemented any safeguards?

Thanks in advance.

kizmet106

Hi

I am lucky to get childcare vouchers through my work however my daughters school has refused to accept them, has anyone else had this?

barbarafloyd

Hi folks,
I would also love to know if vouchers can be accumulated.
My partner's company had the following in their documentation:

"I don’t have childcare costs just yet, can I start saving now?

Yes, as soon as your child has been born, you can register with care-4
and start accruing funds to be paid to a registered or approved carer

at a later date in order to maximise your savings."

However the company I work for says:
"Childcare Vouchers should not be stored up but used for current Care requirements or used for a specific future known event such as a summer playschool which is no more than a few months away. If you accumulate childcare vouchers and are not actively using them for care needs in the event of an HMRC audit you could be deemed as claiming a benefit for which you are not eligible. You should be making regular and active use of your voucher for childcare provision."

I don't see how one company can say building them up is against HMRC rules while the other is activly encouraging you to build them up. If anyone knows which is correct I would really appreciate it as we would ieally both like to buld up vouchers in advance.

Thanks!

remote4

Hi, my husband and I have a baby and we are wondering whether or not to register for childcare vouchers before the changes which come into force in April.

My husband is a higher rate tax payer and I am not. The dilemma we have is that when I go back to work it will be at my old job which is a long way from where we now live and I will stay with my parents while I work part time. They will take care of our son and therefore we will have no immediate childcare costs.

However, as we have moved a long way away from my job, should I be able to find a job closer to where we live, we would then need to put our son in nursery.

It may be that I get a job near our home soon or it may be that I don't get one there for a few years, until our son goes to school.

I understand that with my husbands employers' scheme, you have to sacrifce at least £50 per month to join, which is money we could do with at the moment due to the cost of buying a house, moving and my reduced income due to working part time.

My question is, should we join the scheme now for potential future benefits or save our £50 per month now given that we currently don't have any childcare costs.

Are there any other benefits due to joining this scheme?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Irishbell

At present I am a basic rate tax payer but in 2011/12 my salary is likely to increase to £43k. This means I will move into the higher tax band and therefore will not be eligible for child benefit from April 2012 onwards. However, I also claim the full entitlement of £243 in childcare vouchers per month and plan to for at least 2.5 years (providing they are still around!) As this reduces my tax liability does this mean I will still remain as a basic taxpayer and won't lose my child benefit?

JVRMac

Hi

My youngest son is 5 and been at school for 2 years now so we no longer use any chargeable childcare and I've just had an email from our old childcare vouchers provider saying

We are emailing to inform you that you have Childcare vouchers that have not been reimbursed and are now expired.

Can anyone advise if we can get this money refunded?

Didn't even realise that we hadn't used them all.

rpc

Irishbell wrote: »

At present I am a basic rate tax payer but in 2011/12 my salary is likely to increase to £43k. This means I will move into the higher tax band and therefore will not be eligible for child benefit from April 2012 onwards. However, I also claim the full entitlement of £243 in childcare vouchers per month and plan to for at least 2.5 years (providing they are still around!) As this reduces my tax liability does this mean I will still remain as a basic taxpayer and won't lose my child benefit?

As far as I know, that's right. Increasing pension contributions would have the same effect.

Childcare vouchers reduce your taxable pay, so if they reduce it to less than your 40% threshold then you will not pay tax at 40% and should not lose CB.

Ama

JVRMac wrote: »

Hi

My youngest son is 5 and been at school for 2 years now so we no longer use any chargeable childcare and I've just had an email from our old childcare vouchers provider saying

We are emailing to inform you that you have Childcare vouchers that have not been reimbursed and are now expired.

Can anyone advise if we can get this money refunded?

Didn't even realise that we hadn't used them all.

Speak to your employers and they should be able to get to the bottom of it. Are these vouchers paper or e-vouchers?

Ama

remote4 wrote: »

Hi, my husband and I have a baby and we are wondering whether or not to register for childcare vouchers before the changes which come into force in April.

My husband is a higher rate tax payer and I am not. The dilemma we have is that when I go back to work it will be at my old job which is a long way from where we now live and I will stay with my parents while I work part time. They will take care of our son and therefore we will have no immediate childcare costs.

However, as we have moved a long way away from my job, should I be able to find a job closer to where we live, we would then need to put our son in nursery.

It may be that I get a job near our home soon or it may be that I don't get one there for a few years, until our son goes to school.

I understand that with my husbands employers' scheme, you have to sacrifce at least £50 per month to join, which is money we could do with at the moment due to the cost of buying a house, moving and my reduced income due to working part time.

My question is, should we join the scheme now for potential future benefits or save our £50 per month now given that we currently don't have any childcare costs.

Are there any other benefits due to joining this scheme?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Remote, if your husband join the scheeme after 6th April 2011, then he can only have £124 per month as a 40% tax payer. If you think you are going to be using registered childcare, then I would strongly recommend that both of you join the scheme asap. Remember you can use the vouchers until your child turns 16.

I know you need to money now but the £50 would not equate to £50 when tax of 40% and NI are taken off.