Talk me through childcare vouchers/OFSTED registration please

[SW1XMother]

Hello,

We just moved back from NYC and nanny has been working for us nearly two years. A mother at the playgroup mention childcare vouchers and told me that I could use them and I would save some money with them. Could you please explain what exactly my nanny would have to do to get OFSTED registered and how much would we save a month/year.

Thanks.

Does your nanny have any training, done in the UK during the past few years? If so that training may be sufficient or they may need to do a Common Core course - can be done via distance learning.

Do you work for a company that offers childcare vouchers - get details from the scheme administrator. Vouchers are a form of Salary Sacrifice and thus can affect pension, and salary related bonus.
Talk to others at your work about the company scheme as they can tell you how it has affected anything relating to work.

You and your husband can buy up to £243 worth vouchers each per month. It means that roughly you will save £100 a month between two of you, say £1200 a year. It works in the following way: £243 pounds being deducted from your salary and they are exempt from income TAX, so you save about £50 on TAX monthly. £243 pounds are being transferred to the Childcare Vouchers provider (usually appointed by your Employer) and will appear on your account. It is a bit like Internet banking, you will have an account with your Childcare vouchers provider. Then you can pay to your nanny, but she has to be registered with the same Childcare vouchers provider. It is very simple; she just gives them a call, receives all instructions and gets her unique number, it will take a week or so. BUT she has to be Ofsted registered and I believe it is quite complicated as requires a lot of paperwork, assessments, insurances ect. Probably it will take good 2-3 months to get OFSED registered, but I am not too sure about timing.

Oftsed registration for nannies is fairly straight forward. She will need a basic qualification, current first-aid training, insurance and a CRB check. Fill out the form and send the documents off. I think mine took about 4-6 weeks to come through.

It obviously depends on how much of the above your nanny already has and how much she needs to do.

It is normal for the family to pay for the nanny's Ofsted registration, which is £103 a year I believe. First aid training is mixed, some families pay, some nannies pay, some split it between them. I think the way to look at it is, does your company/employer pay for training that you need to do your job? If yes, then I think it's fair you pay for the first aid.

Is your nanny American? If she is there may complications with the CRB, may need to get one from America I think.....

No, our nanny is German. She has a lot of experience but no formal qualifications. She needs to update her first aid and she has a CRB.

Nannynick: where could she do the course you mentioned?

Ofsted will do another CRB anyway I think.

Can do the Common Core Skills Course here. Either go in and do it or do it at home.

As OutragedFromLeeds says, MNT provide a course. The other provider I know who does it is BabyEm - distance learning, or at a London venue.

Ofsted will do a new CRB (now DBS) check as part of the registration process.

First Aid needs to be suitable of Ofsted registration, many courses are though do check before signing up to a course.

Sounds like the registration process may take your nanny a few months, depending on how soon they can get on courses. So if starting childcare vouchers in the new tax year (April) then you will need to stock pile them for a while. Check with your voucher scheme provider with regard to how long you can stockpile vouchers.

Childcare Voucher Savings Chart 2012/13, £600 a year... perhaps more, so not a huge saving, especially if you are paying for the Ofsted registration and training courses. So do see what saving you would make and what costs you would incur, plus check how being in a Salary Sacrifice scheme affects any company pension, state 2nd pension, SMP, mortgage application, salary related bonus, Life cover, company car, or anything else at work that is or may be based on salary as your salary will be REDUCED by being in a salary sacrifice scheme.

It doesn't have to be a salary sacrifice scheme. I just buy the vouchers and it does not affect my company pension, company car, life cover. It is a very good deal and basically no brainer. But Ofsted registration for your nanny is a hustle and will cost some money. Depending how long this nanny is going to stay with you, if say only for a year is it worth a hustle? But generally I would advise to use childcare vouchers maybe in the future with another childcare provider..

Hi,

Thanks for the messages. To be honest I think this is all too much of a hassle for me and my nanny. She has stayed with us for two years and will stay hopefully for a couple of years.

OFSTED isn't that much of a hassle. It's the course that's the only extra bit really, because renewing First Aid and having insurance are standard things to do in any case and DBS check is just filling in a form, though you'd need to get something from the American embassy about her time there.