TFC to age 11, Childcare Vouchers to age 16: Why?

[Kate223344]

Does anyone know why you can claim childcare vouchers until your child is 16 but only get TFC until age 11?

We are currently with TFC but, as we would miss out on 5 years of credit, we are wondering if we should do vouchers instead.

Any thoughts?!

They are just adding ages on slowly as the system allows .

Sorry just noticed it's only dc with disabilities that can be older.
No excuse for single parents on benefits to leave their 12 year olds alone all summer holidays. That's the the mind set the government are hoping to achieve.
Then sanction anybody that refuses.

They don't think children in secondary school need childcare.
Reality is that they do still need some but it is often a lot less than a toddler or a 5 year old need.

Nannynick, but why do they do vouchers up to 16? It just makes no sense and I can't find a suitable email address to ask HMRC for an explanation!

Kate223344 - this looks a good read: researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN00019/SN00019.pdf

ESC (employer supported childcare) dates back to 1990 and childcare vouchers as we know them came into existence in 2005. It does not seem to say why the cut off point was Sept following 15th Birthday, or 16 if disabled but my gut feeling is that it would be down to how a child is defined in some legislation somewhere.

Hi Nannynick, thanks for the link. It says on page 26 "Support will be focused on those children under 12, as childcare
costs for this group are often the highest". While I understand that may be true, I still don't understand why childcare vouchers are available up to 15/16.
Nevermind, I'll do the maths and try to work out which scheme to go with!

The childcare voucher scheme is closed to new entrants from 5th April - in my company if we wanted to join before the cut off we had to do it in early March so if you want to do this you should check with your employer quick to see if it's still an option!

I'm on childcare vouchers and have young teens, they do still go to the occasional holiday club but mostly related to their termtime activities rather than full daycare which largely stops at secondary school age. Most of the sports clubs don't accept the vouchers. So even if you do get vouchers up to age 15 or 16 you don't get much opportunity to spend them, I hardly take any now.

pregle - that has now changed. Childcare voucher schemes remain open until end of September 2018. I had an official email from Government about it today... following Secretary of State for Education stating it during a Parliamentary debate earlier this week.

Teencare is tricky, as a nanny I have cared for teens with younger siblings usually. More of a chauffeur for a teenager. As Wh0KnowsWhereTheT1meG0es says, what you can use vouchers for will be minimal when children are teenage. PGL Adventure Holidays accept them but whilst they say up to 17 year olds go... I wonder how many teenagers to do go on those. So perhaps Government are right to focus on under 12's.

Found another document published for MPs and their staff, which may help with working out which scheme is best. researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8055/CBP-8055.pdf

No way nanny nick, I'll give the heads up to my hr team!

Thanks, Who knows. That's helpful to know.