Tax credits and employer childcare vouchers

[Justonecheese]

Can anyone please explain to me whether you can still apply for childcare vouchers even if you are getting some tax credits? It is all very confusing to me. People keep telling me to get childcare vouchers from my employer but I'm sure I've also been told that you cannot get the vouchers if you get tax credits...

I'm sure I was more intelligent pre DD- these days I just can't seem to retain any information/understand anything properly!

If you use Childcare vouchers, then you can only claim tax credits for the remaining part of the fees which aren't covered by the vouchers.

Ie. Total childcare bill is £300 per month. Currently you will tell TC that this is what you are claiming for.

But if you claim vouchers for £243 (maximum allowed) of that £300, then you can only claim TC for the remaining £57.

Does this make sense? Most people, if they are entitled to more than the basic TC's, would not be better of using childcare vouchers (as the amount of TC's would be more than the tax you'd save each month). It's always worth researching both options though.

Thanks Nicknacks - makes sense to me now! V helpful :)