unused childcare vouchers...

[wohmum]

'm not sure if this is the best place for this but here goes....

I signe up for childcare vouchers last autumn with my company . i get eth full£243 a month and have to stay with them for a year. no problem until my DH was made redundant and is now out of work - with no sign of anything on the horizon. This means we don't need to pay childcare so I'm building up £243 in childare vouchers from accor that i can't use!

any idea what i can do with them? would i be able to ask a CM friend of mine if she can use them and then give me cash or will that mess up her accounts? Can i sell them on to another parent?

It'll be handy to have a couple of months in the bank as it were in cas Dh does get work again but equally we coudl do with the money now.

any ideas gratfully recieved....

Mmmm ... sticky one I see you could do with the extra money at the moment, but not sure how that would work legally (swapping for cash with CM) as the vouchers are a tax benefit for childcare, I would imagine that if you are stil getting vouchers and don't use them then you are not currently entitled to the tax benefit of using registered childcare but then again if you are signed up for a year you may be stuck with them to accrue, I would get in touch with the voucher provider and see if they can stop the vouchers and revert to your previous wage arrangements, your CM might be nice enough to do a swappy thing I might if it was a one off but would'nt do it long term, one of my mums gives some of hers to her friend as she drops DS at school some days just as a thank you and helps other mum with care costs too, think she gives straight to nursery on friends behalf though so bit different really. I'm sure one of the lovely MNetters will have an answer for you. So sorry about DH losing job, hope things get better for you soon.

Just had a quick shufty on the accor website - they do something called lifestyle changes - bit vague, but generally speaking it looks like you may be able to opt out of the salary sacrifice period if a significant lifestyle change occurs you could argue, that DH losing job is a pretty significant change, would definately give them a call and see if this applies.

As i understand it you can get the voucher company to pay them back to your work, who will then put that amount through the payroll, so you'd pay tax on the money but it wouldn't be stuck in vouchers you can't use.

I don't think you can sell them.

I'd be tempted to ask my cm friend, not strictly the done thing, but it wouldn't mess up her accounts as she have say £500 going in and then a payment of £500 going out so the net effect is nil. Just tell her she doesn't have to do it and feel free to say no.

My friend had this problem. It was with a provider called Care 4 (she had about £2000 in the account). The agreement made it clear that any unused funds will go to a charity designated by Care 4. She fought tooth and nail for about a year, and eventually got the money back.

I guess you should talk to your provider.

Check on the vouchers, Im sure Busy Bees vouchers have to be used within 3 months or they expire.

If you pass them onto another carer, you will have to notify the voucher staff who will alter the name on the vouchers as it would be made out to the original carer. Well this is the way BBs run. Dont know what type of vouchers you use.

Worth reading the small print. Hope this is helpful.

I administrate our childcare voucher scheme which is also with accor. It is absolutely no problem for your company to stop your childcare contributions immediately, they just leave you off the next run. So you don't have to be in for a year.

Also, accor say in the employer section that they will refund vouchers under certain circumstances, so its worth a try getting someone sympathetic in your payroll department, or whoever does the vouchers in your company to send off an email to accor to see if they'll refund you.

Good luck!

Thanks everyone - I think the year thing is down to our company rules rather than Accor and lifestyle changes only seem to apply to changes to me not DH..

I'll try contacting them though just incase ... They are electronic vouchers rather than paper - does that make any difference ?

lifestyle change is you no longer require childcare as your husband is now provide it due to redundancy. reasonable request i reckon.

You should definitely be able to stop if your childcare arrangements change, so that would be a lifestyle change for you.

I would ask as has been advised above - huge lifestyle change for your family!

'I'd be tempted to ask my cm friend, not strictly the done thing, but it wouldn't mess up her accounts as she have say £500 going in and then a payment of £500 going out so the net effect is nil.'

I would never accept voucher payments for a service I did not provide.. try explaining that to the tax man should he wish to delve deeper.

The accor electronic vouchers don't run out btw, and can be used for things like after school clubs, or when your DH finds another job.