Parental leave and childcare vouchers

[denzel44]

Hi, does anyone know if employers are obliged to pay childcare vouchers during parental leave as they are during maternity leave?

I'll ask this question at work on Mon. How much leave are you planning take and what will the effect on your salary that month be?

Yes they are. And they can't take it out of your smp (or ma etc.). But obviously your mat pay will be lower because your childcare vouchers are salary sacrifice. So you'll need to do the maths to see if it's worthwhile for you.

They aren't obliged to pay them whilst on parental leave.

2be maternity is unrelated to parental leave.

Sorry - I refs the OP wrong (and I hate it when others to that)!

However, I know you still get them if you take leave to look after an adopted child. Also, given that the reason is so that you are not discriminated against I would still think the answer is yes.

There's a question here vouchers.employersforchildcare.org/media/childcare-vouchers-during-maternity-leave-employers.pdf that specifically mentions paternity leave, for example.

And also on the second to last page here www.kiddivouchers.com/pdfs/Childcare%20vouchers%20during%20maternity%20leave.pdf

It seems like you get more advice if you look for employes guides rather than employees guide

baffledmum - am planning to take 8 weeks parental leave (4 weeks for each of my children who are both under 5) immediately after my maternity leave. I have opted to stay in the childcare voucher scheme throughout my maternity leave so my employer has been obliged to continue giving me vouchers, even during the last 3 months of mat leave which is unpaid. I realise parental leave is unpaid but just wondered if my employer would have to pay vouchers during this 8 week period too? Would be interested to hear your findings....
Thanks for all other responses - v useful

Thank you for the information. I administer CCVs for my employer and this question has never been asked of me, so I am genuinely interested in the response. I'll be able to speak with the CCV provider direct. My gut feeling is that you will be back from mat leave and be be back on payroll. But you won't have sufficient pay to do the exchange and so your employer will be able to suspend your voucher request for 8 weeks but let's see.

baffledmum - did you manage to find out anymore on this subject?

Links about adoption and maternity leave aren't helpful, parental leave is different, and as Rockchick says, employers aren't obliged to provide contractual benefits during parental leave if they choose not to.

I'm waiting for an answer still but the strong view is that your voucher order would be suspended as you won't have the salary available. I will try again tomorrow for a firm reply.

Flowery - did you read the penultimate page on the second link, where it says " the same applies to adoption leave and paternity leave, unless you expect these types of absences to affect equal proportions of male and female employees".

But of course I sincerely apologise parental leave is only briefly mentioned among the more common maternity/paternity/adoption questions.

OP - I hope you find your answer.

No I didn't read any of the links, I don't need to.

The legal position in respect of maternity, paternity and adoption leave is not relevant to the OPs request as the provision for parental leave is different.