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

sheramber

Yes, you cannot use both systems. Either you have the vouchers or you both join the tax free system.

tygalily88

Hi,
My husband currently uses the salary sacrifice childcare vouchers for our son. Our son has now turned 3 and started pre-school, we have just tried to apply for the 15 hours free childcare but it says that we need to cancel our voucher scheme in order to do this, unless we qualify for the 30 hours free. We don't qualify for 30 hours and this seems quite unfair that some people get 30 hours and can pay for extra hours with vouchers but we get 15 hours and then need to use cash for any extra hours. I'm currently pregnant and we won't qualify for the tax-free childcare either so I think we will lose out massively leaving the voucher scheme, any help?

onlyroz

tygalily88 wrote: »

Hi,
My husband currently uses the salary sacrifice childcare vouchers for our son. Our son has now turned 3 and started pre-school, we have just tried to apply for the 15 hours free childcare but it says that we need to cancel our voucher scheme in order to do this, unless we qualify for the 30 hours free. We don't qualify for 30 hours and this seems quite unfair that some people get 30 hours and can pay for extra hours with vouchers but we get 15 hours and then need to use cash for any extra hours. I'm currently pregnant and we won't qualify for the tax-free childcare either so I think we will lose out massively leaving the voucher scheme, any help?

Sounds like nonsense to me. I was able to claim the 15 free hours while still using childcare vouchers.

shellyillusion

I currently get vouchers through work but my husband is self employed. Is it possible for him to get tax free childcare and me to continue getting vouchers?

sheramber

shellyillusion wrote: »

I currently get vouchers through work but my husband is self employed. Is it possible for him to get tax free childcare and me to continue getting vouchers?

No, as stated before in this thread.

cragside

I'm looking at whether to switch from vouchers to Tax-free Childcare in Jan. This happens to be when my 30 free hours kicks in.
I've read that as a general rule, you'll be better off using the Tax Free Childcare system if your childcare costs are more than £9,300 a year as a two parent family.
But is this before or after the 30 hours funding is taken off the bill?
Next year my childcare costs will be >£9300 before the 30 hours funding and <£9300 after, so I'm not sure what to do.
thanks!

fireman_mack

Hi
We have over £1000 in childcare vouchers which we can't used due to COVID 19 and our daughter will be too old for the scheme shortly.  The money would come in handy right now, even after PAYE being taken off.  The rules say that we can only get a refund if "... we are unable to use or vouchers due to exceptional or unforeseeable circumstances."  Even though these are exceptional and unforeseen times, the company says, "We have found that their (their spelling error not mine!) has been no exceptional or unforeseen event."  and is not allowing us to apply for a refund.   and say that when the vouchers expire that all monies will go to "... a national children's charity".  If we can't get our money back, we would at least want to have a say in which children's charity benefits.  Anyone else come across this? 
Thanks
Mack

retepetsir

fireman_mack said:

Hi
We have over £1000 in childcare vouchers which we can't used due to COVID 19 and our daughter will be too old for the scheme shortly.  The money would come in handy right now, even after PAYE being taken off.  The rules say that we can only get a refund if "... we are unable to use or vouchers due to exceptional or unforeseeable circumstances."  Even though these are exceptional and unforeseen times, the company says, "We have found that their (their spelling error not mine!) has been no exceptional or unforeseen event."  and is not allowing us to apply for a refund.   and say that when the vouchers expire that all monies will go to "... a national children's charity".  If we can't get our money back, we would at least want to have a say in which children's charity benefits.  Anyone else come across this? 
Thanks
Mack

Interesting post as I'm in the same situation. Our youngest has only just started pre-school but I specifically saved up the maximum amount of vouchers per month for ~2 years in order to pay for nursery over the next few years. We would have no other use for them. We'd also lose around £1000. 

Could I ask which company you are using? Surely this is an exceptional circumstance?!

fireman_mack

fireman_mack said:

Hi
We have over £1000 in childcare vouchers which we can't used due to COVID 19 and our daughter will be too old for the scheme shortly.  The money would come in handy right now, even after PAYE being taken off.  The rules say that we can only get a refund if "... we are unable to use or vouchers due to exceptional or unforeseeable circumstances."  Even though these are exceptional and unforeseen times, the company says, "We have found that their (their spelling error not mine!) has been no exceptional or unforeseen event."  and is not allowing us to apply for a refund.   and say that when the vouchers expire that all monies will go to "... a national children's charity".  If we can't get our money back, we would at least want to have a say in which children's charity benefits.  Anyone else come across this? 
Thanks
Mack

Interesting post as I'm in the same situation. Our youngest has only just started pre-school but I specifically saved up the maximum amount of vouchers per month for ~2 years in order to pay for nursery over the next few years. We would have no other use for them. We'd also lose around £1000. 

Could I ask which company you are using? Surely this is an exceptional circumstance?!

It does seem a bit unfair, we think it exceptional. We got ours from Kiddivouchers.  Maybe it's worth putting to Martin Lewis?  

retepetsir

Our voucher company have put a popup on their homepage (Care4) to basically say we won't get anything back:
"Can I withdraw my funds?
Due to HMRC regulations which your employer must adhere to, you are unable to convert any excess balance in your account to cash by way of a refund. Instead, accrued funds will remain in your secure care-4 account for use in payment to eligible carers at a later date."