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

rpc

The scheme may not support it, but there is no other bar to getting childcare vouchers as soon as the child is born.

That's what I did - built up a stash that took a few months to wear down. I didn't even have to give a childcare provider, there was an option to do this later.

bossymoo

Hi

I'm trying to get my head around universal credit and my situation. I currently receive some of the childcare element in tax credits (2 pre schoolers in part time daycare), however, it seems under universal credit, I won't get anything.

I used to get vouchers on salary sacrifice (I stopped as tax credits worked better for me).

Will I be able to restart the voucher scheme when I'm transferred to UC? Or do I need to do it now, and pay in, say £10 a month to keep it active?
I had heard it might be closed to new members, so a little concerned.
Hopefully it will be a couple of years before I'm transferred but my youngest doesn't start school until 2015, and even then I may need after-school care.

Just wondered if anyone knew if I could just rejoin at a later date?

rpc

Normally, as long as your employer still offers the voucher scheme, you can rejoin without problem. Employer policies may limit what you can do so it is worth asking HR (there may be a limit of one salary sacrifice change per tax year, for example).

We are in the same boat you are with respect to universal credit, although our childcare costs are so high that I take full vouchers just to get down to the max eligible costs for tax credits. Unless there is a major change in your circumstances or you would benefit from being transferred, you should find you are not transferred until after 2015.

bossymoo

Thank you. I have been in touch with the voucher scheme to see if my account has stayed active.

elpico

I could do with a bit of advice here.

My wife currently works 2 days a week (I'm full time) and she earns £14k for the 2 days and already gets the full 243/month in vouchers. Her boss would like her to work 3 days a week and before she commits we are trying to figure out if we'd be worse off or not post tax. The calculators we've tried still don't make it clear to us. Child care costs for 2 days/week are £614/month, and if it goes to 3 days a week it'll be £978/month.

Essentially we think my wife will get 300ish more/month net and that will be eaten up by the increased childcare and probably a bit more worse off. Sound about right? She wouldn't have extra travel costs as luckily she can work from home on the extra day.

Can someone confirm if we will be better or worse off? Thanks!

onlyroz

I'm assuming that amount covers more than one child because it seems tremendously expensive. Is your wife in a particularly high-flying career? And how long before your eldest starts school?

Savvy_Sue

Does your company also offer the scheme? If so, you could get more vouchers that way. If not, have you asked if they would? (I have to say we've decided NOT to offer it, because we would have to continue to pay out for vouchers throughout m/l.)

onlyroz

Savvy wouldn't the NI savings counteract any extra expenditure for women on SMP?

Savvy_Sue

onlyroz wrote: »

Savvy wouldn't the NI savings counteract any extra expenditure for women on SMP?

Not sure. Will suggest that we look into that - if I could find my own payslip that would give me a clue!!! It's not something which has been mentioned when this problem has been flagged up.

Initially my manager didn't believe me when I said we'd have to keep paying for the vouchers throughout m/l, just as we have to keep making pension contributions based on the 'normal' wage, but after a bit of research she could see the issue ...

onlyroz

Well just figure out what the employer's NI contributions are for £243 worth of salary over a few years and compare that with the number of people who already have a child that ask to take maternity leave, and the number of disgruntled employees who move to an employer that will allow them to claim the vouchers.