Child care vouchers... PLEASE HELP!

Janiebabes

Hi there

My husband is trying to get his company signed up to a child care voucher provider, but management and HR are throwing every excuse under the sun NOT TO have them!?!? :mad:

these include
a) not enough people want them ( a min of 10% of workforce do want them!)
b) its only for big London companies, and only 2.5% of companies do offer it.
c) it costs too much to pay the providing company
d) this would be seen as part of the benefits package, which is good enough already and doesn't need anything else added ( I didn't think that CCV were similar to pensions, company cars etc? Can someone clarify what a benefits package is for me please)
e) parents (and I must admit I laughed at this one) don't like using OFSTED approved childcare

Any help in fighting for this would be gratefully recieved, we need all the help we can get!

Janie xxx

ms_newbie

I work for a company which only employs 13 people and I convinced them to introduce child care vouchers. I looked in to all the options and presented them to the boss. I am the only person using them at the moment. We opted to go with KiddiVouchers. The lady who does the salary said it was very easy to set up and it runs smoothly each month. My child carers had to register with them but they have actually told me that out of all the companies they use KiddiVouchers is the best - least admin for everyone.

I get an email each month telling me my payment has been sent and another email every few months (3 months I think) to tell me when I can change amounts if I need too.

Obviously I save the tax but my employer also saves on the employer national insurance contribution.

Keep trying and dont give up. Good childcare is expensive so any help you can get is worthwhile trying for.

Also I am not in London - I am in Glasgow.

Good Luck

Clive_Woody

I get Busy Bee vouchers and my wife gets Leap Frog vouchers which saves us lots of money. Busy Bee have a nice simple web site and send a monthly email telling me the payment has been made.

It might be worth asking one of the voucher companies to contact the place of work and explain the process to them.

belfastgirl23

This organisation should be able to help you with all the practical stuff

http://www.employersforchildcare.org/

They are based here in NI but as far as I know it operates the same childcare vouchers scheme as the rest of the UK. This section should answer all the questions from the POV of employers

http://www.employersforchildcare.org/employers/childcare-vouchers/

Alas though as I understand it an employer cannot be compelled to offer childcare vouchers. I know the last I heard the Belfast Education and Library Board (who employ all the Belfast teachers) did not offer childcare vouchers!!

Oh and as I understand it childcare vouchers actually save employers money since they don't pay NI contributions on the amount of £ "sacrificed"

honeypop

Employers don't have to go with a childcare voucher scheme where they buy the vouchers, at my work they just send the amount of money via BACS to your approved childcarer or hand you a cheque to give to them in part payment of your fees.

And in response to their objections:

a) not enough people want them - doesn't matter, they can do it for just 1 employee if that's all that wants them.

b) its only for big London companies - all employers regardless of size can do it, there's only 10 of us at my place and I manage to run the scheme fine.

c) it costs too much to pay the providing company - the money comes off of the employees salary so it doesn't cost the company ANYTHING.

d) this would be seen as part of the benefits package - as above, the amount is deducted off monthly salary so is in no way an added benefit.

e) parents don't like using OFSTED approved childcare - think they are getting desperate for excuses!!

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/childcare/employees-guidance.htm is a link to the info for employees regarding the scheme
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/childcare/childcarefactsheet.htm and http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/helpsheets/e18.pdf is some info for employers.

They will be worth reading, finding how is the best way for his company to provide such a scheme and putting the request/idea in writing to them so they can research it properly, making sure you inform them they don't pay anything for it as it can come out of the employees salary (they even end up paying less NI contributions as a result I believe). In the letter I would also request a written response as to why they object to implementing the scheme, if they choose to. That way their 'excuses' are clear and can be responded to point by point.

Janiebabes

Thank you for this guys!

Any more help/ inspiration in how to get this company to look thoroughly at Chil Care Vouchers would be fantastic, including what location you are and size of company, WOULD BE BRILLIANT!!!!

lynnexxxo

Hi I work for a small company (there are less than ten of us) and I am the only one who wanted childcare vouchers. We are located in glasgow and use the Kiddivoucher scheme.

You could download the forms from their website and get your husband to give them to whoever does the wages directly.

Good luck, don't give up - i get £230 per month in vouchers (the max available). it would cost me 25% more if i used cash, hence I save £57.50 a month.

daveyjp

My wife's company employs about 15, based in Leeds and at the moment she is the only one using vouchers. The scheme was introduced for her benefit and the finance manager says its no hardship to do the work.

Finance manager deducts the voucher cost from the top line salary and sends this cash to voucher company, this amount is then deducted from our wages. Sage or similar handles all the calculations for NI and tax.

We both use them and it''s worth about £150 a month.

Sounds like the OP company have a fear of the unknown.