Child care vouchers - can you use them to pay nannies/CM?

[poppy34]

stupid question here- I'm lucky enough to be able to opt to take some of my pay as childcare vouchers.

Really dumb question but I'm planning (some way off yet!) on employing a nanny. Is there any way of using these vouchers to pay him/her? I know it may not be easy to do it direct but can it be done if you opt to use one of the nanny payroll sercices to make pay arrangements as well as sort out tax for you?

yes you can!

Im partly paid using them!

you have to be an 'approved childcarer' which means
you are qualified
and have a suitable 1st aid certificate
then the childcare approval scheme give you a certificate / ref number, and do a(nother wink) CRB check for you, and charge about £95

then a nanny can be paid with these vouchers.

It is normal for the employer to pay for the nanny to be approved as they are only ones who benefit!

Currently in England, the registration of childcare providers is having a bit of a shake up. The Childcare Approval Scheme ceases to exist - it is replaced by the Ofsted Childcare Register which has a voluntary part, which nannies can join in order to be able to accept Childcare Vouchers. Ofsted have started producing some information on the new scheme:

Guide to registration for the voluntary part of the childcare register

So for 2007/2008 tax year, a nanny can be registered in England under either of the two schemes: Ofsted Childcare Register or Childcare Approval Scheme. Over the course of the year, those nannies on CAS will transfer to the OCR when their registration renews. New applicants can currently join either scheme, though that is phased out (think from September 2007), so that new applicants can only join the OCR.

My employer uses Childcare Vouchers and do not use a payroll company... it isn't difficult, so I would not worry about that too much. The key answer I think you are looking for is, YES a nanny can be part-paid using Childcare Vouchers, but that nanny must be registered on a scheme (see above). For the nannies tax purposes, the voucher is considered to be the same as normal salary payment - so the nanny pays Tax and NI, and employer pays employers NI on the voucher amount.

I believe that you can even pay family members an 'appropriate amount' towards looking after your children

I pay my childminders with childcare vouchers nad hope to start paying for DS preschool nursery with them soon as well

Think they have to be ofsted registered to be able to accept them.