tax free childcare letter from hmrc

[wizzywig]

Has anyone else received this letter? Basically it seems as though you set up an account and you put in 80% of chilcare costs into it, the government put in 20% and the childcarer then gets paid. Does anyone know if its only for paye folks? Thanks

We get workplace nursery costs under Salary Sacrifice PLUS childcare vouchers (so it is very generous but before my DS went to school my pay packet was, er, a bit thin - as it's my workplace rather than my DH's).

I got this letter and dismissed it as my DCs aren't in childcare, but now I've thought of holiday clubs so may check if my local one takes childcare vouchers...

I got the letter (four DC under 11 including one in nursery and one with diagnosed ASD) and we both work full time in the SE, but we aren't eligible. Sticking with childcare vouchers which we both use - hoping they don't go away any time soon! Our childcare costs match my salary :-/ but I'm working for my sanity, pension and future prospects.

Does anyone know if this has an effect on childcare tax credits. I currently relieve £350 per month toward my £900 per month childcare bill for dd aged 3. Would this scheme be in addition to tax credits or would it be a case of choosing which works best for me?

Rachelly123 - Use the Childcare Calculator www.gov.uk/childcare-calculator to see which scheme is better for you. You can not claim Tax Credits as well as Tax-Free Childcare.

Just wondering if any of the original posters on this post are around to answer a question I have about this scheme? Some of the people posting seemed quite knowledgeable about the scheme. I feel I know a lot but have a question that I've not been able to find an answer to - I did e-mail HMRC but still no reply. My question is whether I can register my interest in the scheme online without jeopardising the Childcare Voucher system that my husband and I both currently use? We're keen to stay on the old scheme until we move to the new one, which works out more cost effective for us, but don't want to lose the benefit of the current scheme. Thanks.

I am not aware of the new scheme being open to parents yet except those selected for the pilot.

My guess is that if you have been told you can register interest, then that won't affect childcare vouchers. Once you start to pay in to the new scheme, then it would affect it as you can't be in both.

yes i thought the same as nannynick. i dont know whether you could use the caluclator that we were given to tell us whether the hmrc scheme or childcare vouchers would be better for us, or if it is only for those chosen in the pilot.

sorry just seen that nannynick posted back in october the calculator.

Thanks for your replies. I knew about the letters going out to providers and so looked at the website where they could sign up snd it allowed parents to register too, but now I tried looking at that site recently the signing up as a parent doesn't appear to be there, so I think you are both right that we can't sign up yet. Maybe the site I saw was for them to select parents to sign up for the trial. I've seen reports that it is likely to be from April so will wait until then, I'm sure they will communicate it. I've seen the calculator but already worked out that the new scheme will be better for us. Thanks again.