Excuse me childminders, do you get paid as quickly with Childcare Vouchers?

[majorstress]

What payment method do you prefer?

I may be using a childminder new to the job and I want to encourage/help her to get registered for vouchers, she seems to want "cash" (have to clarify that as well).

i would rather have the vouchers after that cheques and then cash

its just so all the money gets banked cause i know if i get cash i would spend it b4 i got to the bank

the vouchers are fab i wish all my parents could get them

Never had them, but am Interested as have heard that the Army is going to be using them for parents, and all of my mindees come from Army families. was worried cos I get paid in advance on the 1st of each month how it would work.

vouchers get paid monthly so i get a month in advance anyway

So do you think if I offered to pay her more in advance than she would normally expect, she might positively WANT to sign up for the vouchers (It's easy I gather)

I PREFER cash and only get a cheque from one mum which is a pain in the bum having to drive into town just to cash cheque & wait days for it to clear..On the other hand Ive heard vouchers are simple and they just get paid straight into acc-id be more than happy to do that on a parents request.

Childminders who know nothing about any voucher schemes can get quite worried about what it means - there have been (and still are) some unscrupulous parents who have abused the working family tax credit scheme, for instance. Many childminders think that all these "schemes" are linked together, and worry that they won't get paid.

Getting registered for voucher schemes is usually quite straightforward, but obviously does involve some kind of form-filling, which can also be a bit daunting for some CMs.

I'm happy to accept vouchers - it ensures you definitely get your money!

but what if the mindees fee varies wildly week to week?, do we have to call someone to issue us with correct amount on voucher?

i prefer parents to pay into my account, but for them this means parting with their money 2-3 working days before unless they physically take it in..at present all current and new mindees parents are paying cash, my dp take to bank through week and i dont spend any until my 'wages' get transfered on a thursday and it go's into our joint account

I get paid in vouchers, from two seperate voucher providers, and it really is easy.
The cm litrally has a form thats 1 side of A4 to fill in and that is it! Couldn't be easier. The only effort in it is for the parents settin it up.
Addmittedly when the parents first suggested it I wasn't keen. I imagined being given a paper voucher and having to cash it! I really knew nothing about it and once I realised the money would just appear in my account I was all for it.

The vouchers are always less than the actual bill, so the parents just pay the remainder. I don't charge my parents in advance, so perhaps it makes it easier (for me).

All my parents pay partly in vouchers and for the last 12 months since they started have had no probs! I am more than happy for them to pay that way.

Thanks very much, glad it seems to be working, and from my end the payments are really easy to make on the internet-they usually aren't really vouchers are they anymore? I've never seen anything excpet numbers on a screen. Because as a parent it was a total complete utter b*gger to set up for nursery (because my workplace are morons), and barely got sorted before dd is nearly finished with nursery anyway, and now we are heading into before/after-school and holiday care, I am loath to stop using the scheme. I didn't plan to use a childminder as well, but most nannies aren't registered to accept them, and there is no breakfast club at our school, so hey presto now I really will have used every sort of possible childcare that exists on the face of the earth!

StrawberrySnowflake, on mine (from Accor) I can pay any amount, any time, the only limit is I only can spend £243 a month. But now dh can get them too, his company's is busy bees, I think they are just as flexible, but I have to nag and nag to get HIM to do the payment, or bring home a receipt. Parents can also set up a standing order so I guess that's what I'll have him do.

some of my children do more hours some weeks than others, what the parents do is to order a set amount of money and sometimes they are up with their money and sometimes they are down (most of them are up) and when the end of march comes they just book their children in extra to use up the money

Does anyone have a link about these vouchers? They sound great.

Majorstress I get Accor vouchers but I don't have that limit. Unfortunately for me I am regularly paying out between £500 and £600 a month in vouchers. It is just that it is only the first £243 that is not taxed. After that it is only an NI saving. I just transfer the money to the nursery and the childminder when I receive the bill and it goes into their accounts. The nursery bill is a set amount but the CM varies quite a bit. I usually have some money in my Accor account and can vary the amount of vouchers monthly. I tend to stick to approximately the same amount of vouchers and let my account build up in term time and run down in the holidays. I get paid on 28th and my bills are due to pay on the 1st.

Prior to the vouchers I paid by cheque. I will not pay by cash, but would be willing to pay by bank transfer if I didn't have the vouchers.