CM Childcare vouchers

[nikosmum2010]

Hi NM, How do childcare vouchers work. I am a parent about to sign a contract with a childminder. I mean in terms of the administration. CM will be paid towards the end of the month. CM told me I would have option to pay either weekly/4 weekly in advance. Just need a bit of info to have in advance of the contract signing. Thanks

Ask the childminder if they currently accept that voucher. Depending on the voucher company they may already have an account with the voucher company, so accepting the voucher should occur quickly.

Vouchers can take time to process. Check with the voucher company if they have a specific provider payment date (Computershare seem to have that) or if they just pay the voucher after a few days of you authorising it.

When do you get the voucher? Aim to use the voucher to pay the following months childcare bill... so that voucher can be authorise well in time, such as middle of the month. So if you get a voucher at end of April, use that to pay childcare fee due 1st June. If you get the voucher at end of April, you authorise it as quickly as possible, so that it then gets processed and should be with your CM sometime during May, thus in time for the payment due beginning of June. Does that make sense?

Your contract with the CM will be to pay the fees by a specific date. If the voucher does not get into the CM's bank account by that date, you have not paid and will incur late payment fee (if your CM charges those). It is your responsibility to make sure the voucher payment goes through in time, thus why I say about using the previous months voucher to pay.

Ours are very simple. I go online and make the payment. In a couple of days I check with CM that she has received it, and she always says yes. It's like online banking. Easy peasy.