The new childcare vouchers

leftieM

Has anyone had problems getting their employer to implement the new voucher scheme? My employer (QUB) had the old voucher scheme in place so they were happy enough to implement the new scheme too. However, a relation who's a teacher has been told that DENI aren't going to bring the voucher scheme in. I think this is pretty unfair as it costs them nothing (in fact they may save money) and they could save employees loads in childcare costs.
Does anyone else use them at present apart from QUB?

arkonite_babe

I wasn't even aware such a scheme existed. Where can you find out more information about this and who is entitled to it?

leftieM

It's a scheme whereby each taxpayer responsible for a child and paying for childcare is entitled to £50 a week free of tax and national insurance. An employer has to set up the scheme as you take a salary cut in return for a voucher which you can use to pay a registered childcare provider. Lower rate tax payers save about £70 and higher rate taxpayers save almost £90. The amount sacrificed is free of the employer's NI contribution which is the 'carrot' to employers. The scheme is administered by a number of different companies including Busy Bees (https://www.busybees.com). The money to pay for this comes from the employer's NI savings generally with perhaps a contribution from the employee's savings too.
This scheme just came into place on the 6th of April.