Gov tax free childcare or Edenred

[HennaSaud786]

Hi,

Just wanted to ask if anyone knows which childcare discount scheme is the most beneficial? My husband is on edenred (i missed out on the deadline) and I'm on mat leave. I go back to work in June, im not sure if we should ditch the edenred scheme for the government one or stick with it ? :( oh and both kiddies are under 2 :)

Thank you!

Hi, the government scheme pays 20% of your childcare bill and you can both add to the account. But You can not have one parent on vouchers and one on tax free so you will need to decided what benefits you best as a family.

First check you qualify for TFC - you both need to be working and both need to earn under £100,000 each.

Then calculate your childcare cost... with two children under 5, you may have childcare costs of £31,000. Then calculate the max amount you would get from TFC: If childcare cost is over £20,000 then max TFC is £4000 (£2000 per child). So you pay £16,000 and get £4000 topup. You then also pay any additional childcare cost over £20,000.

If your husband is a higher rate tax payer (earning over £50,000) then childcare vouchers will save about £625 a year. Compare that to your savings under Tax-Free Childcare... which may be £4000 a year.

Longer term, TFC can be used until children are age 12, vouchers can be used until age 16. Different if either child is disabled.

There is also the Government calculator you can try using: gov.uk/childcare-calculator