Getting back an erroneous payment to ex-nanny

[pecanpie]

I fired my nanny a few weeks ago after some serious issues. Unfortunately, because of the stresses of finding replacement childcare, being heavily pregnant, work etc, DH and I failed to remember that an automatic payment from our Care4 (childcare voucher) account had been set up to her account until the end of October when she was initially due to finish working for us. The payment was for the full childcare voucher amount of £243. Ex-nanny did not work for us in October at all and should have received her P45 by now.

We asked Care4 if they could recall the payment from her childcare voucher account, but they said they aren't able to do this (we were unable to call on the day the payment was made due to a Jewish holiday and despite it taking 3+ days to hit her Care4 account, they said they can't recall after the payment date).

I've tried to contact ex-nanny but have had no reply. She has serious debt issues and the longer it takes her to repay us, the less likely she is to have the money available to repay us. I am adamant that she repays us after all of the harassment she has previously given me around pay day, querying when she is to be paid in every medium possible and also her constant requests for advances to try to back-fill her debt. In addition, she doesn't deserve the free cash for the poor quality of childcare she has provided in the last few months of employment and the liberties she has taken e.g. just not showing up for work.

Can I legally reclaim the money? How do I go about this? How long should I give ex-nanny before pursuing e.g. court action?

yes, she has to pay it back.
talk to cab to make a claim.

thanks

She has to pay it back to the voucher provider, not to you otherwise both you and she will be commiting tax fraud.

I was just wondering about that on my walk to school this am. Thanks mranchovy. Is there no other way to pay back the tax?

Surely, given that Care 4 has her bank details, they should be able to recall the money from her bank account to her voucher account and back to ours. It's ridiculous.

Is there no other way to pay back the tax?
It's not just the tax, the point is that it is not your money and you have no right to it - that is the way childcare vouchers work. It was your employer's money, then they paid it to the voucher provider who held on to it until they acted on your existing instructions and paid it to a registered childcare provider (which is the only thing they are allowed to do with it). If you have now realised that you should have changed your instructions you need to contact Care 4 and tell them what has happened; they should contact her asking for her to pay the money back.

Surely, given that Care 4 has her bank details, they should be able to recall the money from her bank account to her voucher account and back to ours. It's ridiculous.
Er no, it would be ridiculous if they were able to do that. They would need a direct debit mandate and there is no reason for them to have that.

Spoken to Care 4 and they are getting in touch with her as well to say money needs to be returned. Mr A - not sure I agree with the money not being 'mine' - it's only the taxable element which I'm not entitled to, given this is a salary sacrifice scheme from a full-time employed salary?

Well that's how it is - the words 'salary sacrifice' mean exactly that - you have sacrificed the right to receive £243 (or whatever) per month of your previous salary in return for the right for childcare vouchers to the value of £243 to be placed at your disposal.

More details from HMRC if you want to go into the technicalities.

Thanks MrA for your advice. Care 4 has been a lot more helpful than I imagined they would be and I'm glad that I know the legal way to reclaim the money. Plenty of childcare costs to be covered by the £243/month!!