CM Question... Being paid with Vouchers, how does this work?

[Tas1]

Hi, I am a CM and one of my mindees parents has ask if I would except some of my payment in vouchers. I believe they can have part of their wage paid in vouchers for childcare before the rest of their wage is taxed.

How does this work?
Do you have to wait for them to clear when they hit your bank account (like a chq)?
What are the pro's and con's?
How do I go about arranging this if I decide to go ahead?
Do I have to register with anyone?

All info greatly recieved.

My mindees are all full time average bill is £700.00 a month, Parents can claim £243.00 each, (most of my Parents are both Soldiers so both can claim the £243.00), so £486.00 goes into the bank, and they give me the rest in cash/cheque.

Could someone explain this to me slowly

DS' work has the voucher scheme - same as others, £55.00 a week which would be salary sacrifice.

So, why would we want to go through a complicated scheme like this rather than pay the nursery/CM direct?

Also, does the £55.00 work out as £55.00? In other words, does it arrive in the acct minus NI and tax, so worth more?

OK, the voucher money is taken from your salary before you pay tax and NI, which means that you pay less tax.

My parents saved on average of £1000.00 per year per family.

it's not complicated

the money is taken off your payslip and goes to an account that you have to set up with the childcare voucher company (we use accor) I have a direct debit with accor that goes to my childminder monthy, and top up from our own account - as the vouchers don't cover everything.

well worth any hassle
but there shouldn't be any!

Tas1, really it's not much of a hassle at all. I get paid by several parents who use the voucher scheme, Accor and am just registering with Busy Bees (had a hickup or two with Busy Bees already but all should be straight forward now). My experience with Accor is that they have always paid and on time. Like Pinkchick, I receive notification via email and it goes straight into my bank account (usually early). Parents then pay the remainder of the invoice by DD into bank account.

Some parents can save quite a bit in Tax which can only be a good thing

There is no reason why you cannot receive payment monthly, they can just save the vouchers.

Hi Sorry everyone, Ive not been on mumsnet for a day or so, im just catching up on all your input. Thank you to everyone who took the time to reply.
I have decided to go ahead and accept vouchers but will be asking parents to keep one months vouchers in hand and pay them before the end of the month. I will also draw their attention again to my late payment policy and remind them that this applies for late vouchers too. Any additional hours outside contracted hours will be paid in cash.

Do you think that sounds reasonable?

very

Vouchers are a necessary evil I feel. I get paid in three lots by some families (dad's voucher, mum's voucher, and then direct transfer). When you have many part-timers this is an admin nightmare, but I would not NOT accept vouchers, as it is a big help to my parents.

Another bad thing about them for CMs is they always come in after the 1st. My parents pay me on the 1st, but don't realise it takes a while to reach me. If my hubby wasn't paid before the 1st with his job, I would have to reconsider vouchers as I would not be paid in time to pay my bills.

I have asked parents to pay before the 1st, so funds are cleared in my account BY the 1st, but this rarely happens.

ps: I have never fined parents for paying late (not even for arriving late), even tho I have policies for both and they know it and have read them! So I accept partial responsbility as am too soft. I do verbally remind them every month re the time delay too tho.