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

chillin_out

I am the owner of a limited company, and have set a voucher scheme up as to provide vouchers to the maximum value to all employees in addition to salary.
This saves me tax and the company tax.
I know this doesn't answer the question on self employment, but if anyone has a limited company it is well worth considering.
As my wife is also an employee of the company, we can pay for all our childcare using the scheme.

We use Kiddivouchers as the commision on the voucher value seemed to be the most reasonable at 1.5% of the voucher value.

Hope this helps people in a similar situation

chillin_out

Heather_Heelis wrote: »

I am a childcare provider and I need to know if I can register with more than one voucher company?

Yes you should be able to, Our nursery is registered with both Accor and Kiddievouchers

the_mountaineer_2

Hi guys
I work for the revenue as an adviser to employers the guidance produced for them which you can also see is called the E18 Help your employees with chilcare costs. You can search for it on https://www.hmrc.gov.uk
A few points already made...if you take vouchers you reduce your childcare cost, this may affect your tax credits, there is an online calculator to see what kind of effect this may have, details from Tax Credit Office 0845 300 3900. If you enter into a salary sacrifice scheme you may reduce your benefits elsewhere such as Statutory payments as they are all based on the figure the employer used to calculate class 1 National Insurance.

SussexMan_2

I've been using Childcar Vouchers for nearly two years now and had to convince my employer (a small voluntary organisation) to set them up. One way I convinced them was that they would save money on the employer's NI. The various voucher providers charge for their services which eats into the savings so after discussions with HMRC it was agreed that if my employer wrote a cheque out payable direct to the nursery my child attends, that meets the definition of a "voucher" because it can only be spent at that nursery. Therefore my employer saved the full 12.8% on the amount of my salary sacrifice.
I've since moved to a different employer who uses Sodexho.

juliep_2

I am lucky in that I work for the NHS and have claimed vouchers since my child started nursery.
Unfortunately my partner works for one of the largest employers in Sheffield, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) who won't provide vouchers. He asked the HR department at DWP over 2 years ago, but they said they can't do it until they implement a new computer system for HR.
He used to work for the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) who did provide vouchers.
It just surprises me that one part of the civil service can provide these vouchers and yet another cannot.

Murdina

I have in the past advised employers (broadly smaller businesses) about these schemes and they have been deterred by the admin costs of the voucher providers - although as far as we could make out there was nothing to stop employer creating own vouchers. I think it is a real pity more employers do not use this to reward employees since there is clearly a demand out there - I wonder if perhaps the combination of the perceived admin costs and hassle and the false perception that they are only of interest to a few female employees contributes to this. So I would urge anyone who works for a smaller company to encourage them to offer the scheme - men and women - even if you do not need it at present - then employers might start to realise that there is a real mutual benefit here..

Murdina

Just to say that any employer can set up the scheme ie you can be self employed and employing someone ( re comment above).

Emma06_2

I see from the forum the question was raised last year but I can not find the answer - can anyone tell me if I can get/use this scheme if I am self employed?

Yours in anticipation!

kiwimura

There is also care-4 childcare vouchers

https://www.care-4.co.uk

care-4 was the first UK electronic Childcare Voucher Scheme launched in February 2002 and is now widely regarded as the leading electronic solution for those employers that expect the highest standards of service and expertise.

The service includes access for parents to:

- a confidential 24/7 childcare helpline provided by BUPA Childcare
- a unique web service ‘Childcare Places’, providing current vacancies of NCMA Registered Childminders (http://www.childcareplaces.co.uk)
- use of your care-4 account to pay for Emergency Childcare (http://www.emergencychildcare.co.uk)
- nursery discounts *
*subject to availability


I would highly reccommend the care-4 childcare voucher scheme to everyone.

Fizzipop

When I first started with my current employer I asked about childcare vouchers as my son was at full time nursery. Almost seven years later, they implemented the scheme!

I missed out on the benefit I would have gained from using it for nursery however, I now use them for holiday clubs. I had to persevere with this to get my provider to register with Accor and accept vouchers as the first response was a blanket NO but I found the 'are you sure you want to lose my custom of around £1,000 pa ??' to be quite pursuasive and now all is running smoothly