Question re childcare vouchers

[spekulatius]

Is there any difference between the current and the new scheme? If I can get vouchers now from my employer and we don't need more than the £243 a month anyway there is no advantage of waiting until the new year starts, is there? As far as I can see it only makes a difference if you can't get the vouchers now?

Don't know, yet to figure it out.

If you have lots of children and high childcare cost then the new scheme is better I think.

Example: 4 children under 11.
Max amount would be 4 x 2000 = 8000 saving
Would need childcare cost of 40,000 though!
Even if childcare cost was 20,000 I think saving could be 4000
which is more than the 1000 saving that you may get with current scheme.
Keep in mind that in the current scheme you don't save 243 a month, you only save the tax and NI on that amount.

The new scheme is only available if both parents work more than 8 hours a week and earn less than £150k per annum. The current scheme is available to all those who's employers offer it and both parents can apply for a maximum (depending on tax level) of £243 each.

The new scheme will initially only be available up to age 5 but rolling out to age 12 (age 17 for additional needs) within the first year, although no timescale has been given.

Therefore if your child starts school next year and requires wrap around care it might be best to get child care vouchers until the age limits have been raised.

The other thing to note is that once the new scheme comes into place childcare voucher schemes will be closed to new applications so you should start figuring out which scheme is more advantageous to you.

Yes that's why I want to sort it. The current scheme is adequate for us, 1 DD who is 2 and with CM part times so we pay around 260 a month. We both work full time. We used to use them in my old job but haven't done so since I started new job in January. Just don't want to join up now and then find out the new scheme would be better for us.

Join up now to take advantage of the tax and Ni savings until the new scheme comes in and then if you are better off under the new scheme swap over.