Armed Forces Childcare Voucher Scheme

caroleiw

The Armed Forces Childcare Voucher Scheme is now up and running for the forces - better late than never.

You can download an application pack from www.MODchildcare.co.uk or call the Customer Care team on 0800 066 5075 for further information.

You can convert part of your salary into vouchers – up to £243 per month – saving the tax and National Insurance you would normally pay on that amount.


Savings are approximate and depend on individual circumstances.

It can be claimed by both parents if they are in the forces or the other half works for a company who belongs to the scheme so you could get £486 of vouchers per month.

Also see Martins article http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/health/childcare-vouchers

We started in January for our son and claimed £725 of vouchers for the 2 terms which covered his pre-school fees that were not funded.

"If you sign up to the scheme, you will receive your vouchers the month AFTER we receive your Salary Sacrifice Agreement."

So you have to get your forms in before the end of the month to start from next months salary.

When you stop you need to inform them before the end of the month to remove yourself from the scheme otherwise you get another voucher payment which you then have to request back which would probably be a lot of faff.

There's lots of info on the www.MODchildcare.co.uk and it wasn't really any hassle.

johng_uk

Cheers for that.

If I could get the Missus out to work I'd be able to use them too:) In her defence though the little 'un is only 11 months;)

Marker_2

What, thats no excuse John

Thanks for the info - how does it affect army pension?

LANDERC

Marker, I work for the company who delivers the childcare voucher scheme to MOD employees.

In response to your query, your pension will not be affected. Your army pension is calculated from your gross salary (i.e. before your childcare vouchers are taken).

I hope this helps,

charlie42bravo

I am in the Navy and am using the vouchers. They are great - I am just gutted that my son starts school in September and it has taken the MOD this long to implement the vouchers.

GillzD_2

hi thanks for the breakdown of benefits but my childcare needs to be paid up front by the 8th of next month and we wouldnt get the vouchers in time is there anything to help us pay them now?

GillzD_2

also thought we were not meant to be worse off but from the breakdown above we will still be out of pocket this cant be right can it?

JessicaF_2

Please be sure that anyone considering taking childcare vouchers checks the implications on their tax credits.

Some people will be worse off if they take childcare vouchers because of the interactions with tax credits.

Jess

caroleiw

GillzD You should not be out of pocket as you will not be paying tax or NI on the payments so saving at least 20% or 40% if a higher rate tax payer plus the NI savings on top.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/calcs/ccin.htm has a childcare indicator calculator which "helps you decide whether you are better off having childcare vouchers or the childcare element of Working Tax Credit."

When you put your completed forms in, the vouchers start from the following months pay statement. We got ours by email and paid the pre-school online. The e-voucher account was credited on the last day of the month. The pre-school normally billed half termly but we worked out how much it would be over the 6 months and paid monthly and they were flexible about payment date.

I'm only posting as someone who has used the vouchers and for us we saved money so I apologise if any of the information is not right. You need to look at Martins article http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/health/childcare-vouchers and probably the discussion about it here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=275746

HTH

ocaflt

There is a Government salary sacrifice scheme which entitles you to tax free childcare. This began in 2005 but has only just been signed up to by MOD due to JPA problems (funny old thing!). You 'sacrifice' a certain amount of your salary before tax which is then given to you as childcare vouchers - these should be accepted by childcare organisations who are signed up to accepting them (you need to check). This means you save up to 40% on your nursary bills etc. It is not back-dateable, so get in quick to start saving! Dont be seen off!! For full details see your UPO.

lee634

already posted in this thread a few days ago