Childcare vouchers and Tax-free childcare

Goldust

Hi,

I know you're not allowed to be in the voucher scheme and get tax-free childcare as well (ridiculous IMHO but that's not the reason for my post!)

I have a long-standing voucher scheme with my employer but as I'm just about in the 40% tax bracket I can only put £128 a month into it maximum.  We are now in a position where our new baby needs to go to nursery and sadly £128 isn't going to cover it.

The question is... I have the voucher scheme through my work and it has been used to pay for our eldest daughter to have childcare (after school and breakfast clubs mainly).  Can my wife set up a tax-free childcare account for the youngest daughter?  Is that still not allowed?  I'm guessing not but I can't really tell... 

poppy12345

Goldust said:

Hi,

I know you're not allowed to be in the voucher scheme and get tax-free childcare as well (ridiculous IMHO but that's not the reason for my post!)

I have a long-standing voucher scheme with my employer but as I'm just about in the 40% tax bracket I can only put £128 a month into it maximum.  We are now in a position where our new baby needs to go to nursery and sadly £128 isn't going to cover it.

The question is... I have the voucher scheme through my work and it has been used to pay for our eldest daughter to have childcare (after school and breakfast clubs mainly).  Can my wife set up a tax-free childcare account for the youngest daughter?  Is that still not allowed?  I'm guessing not but I can't really tell... 

The answer is no and you already answered the question in your first sentence. See link. https://workingfamilies.org.uk/articles/already-get-vouchers-should-i-switch-to-tax-free-childcare/

Taken from the above link... It is not possible to use both schemes at the same time and if you have a partner, you and your partner must both use the same scheme.

Giammy85

This thing with Childcare vouchers and Tax-free childcare is a complete mess! Many schools and Councils do not accept them at all or they just accept a few of them (with the excuse of the admin burden) Given the reality of things, should somebody willing to use the deductions just do that via a self assessment tax return (like in other Countries)? The Secretary of State should be ashamed by the present situation.

Goldust

Completely agree @Giammy85 .  My wife is starting a new job so she can't access a voucher scheme anyway now as they have all been closed to new members long ago.

So my option is to forgo my 42% discount on the paltry amount I am able to buy and then just join the 20% saving scheme or to keep it and pay with cash for the rest.

I would have put my daughter in for the full week which in turn creates the requirement for the nursery to employ more full time staff but instead we like many will have to rely on parents to care for a day or two otherwise it's not even worth the effort of going to work.

The system is completely broken and counter-productive.  Child benefit the same.  Being at the bottom end of the 40% tax bracket isn't the boon it may have been years back, it actually excludes you from so much you may as well not bother.  To be clear I'm not complaining that I can't have extra money, I'm complaining that the system is unfair and unbalanced picking and choosing when to treat you as a couple and when to treat you as an individual with no consistency whatsoever.