Encouraging employer to join childcare voucher scheme

[yakiudon]

I am currently on maternity leave after the birth of our second child. We had been hoping to take advantage of the new tax-free childcare government scheme as neither of our employers currently offer childcare vouchers. We will have 2 children in childcare 2 days a week, and the scheme would have saved us a lot of money.

Now it seems that the tax-free scheme will not be introduced until 2017. What can I do to encourage either or both of our employers to take part in accepting childcare vouchers? My husbands employer has said that it would be too much paperwork for them. Does anyone who is an employer themselves or works in HR have experience in joining a scheme? Are all the schemes similar, are some better than others...Kiddivouchers, Busybees etc? Are there costs involved to my employer in joining a scheme? Are there financial benefits to the employer?

Ultimately it would be more beneficial for my employer to accept them, as I am a basic rate taxpayer, but I work for a small business and I think that there are only a couple of staff (me included) who have childcare costs.

I think if I can approach my boss with a sensible proposal and help set it up then they might be more receptive. I am not due back at work till Jan 2016 so have plenty of time to sort this out! Any advice or experience gratefully received!

The admin is minimal. My husband set it up for himself in the family business and the set up was about half hour and the ongoing is about 5 mins a week (he is paid weekly so would only be 5 mins a month if you are monthly paid). We went with Eden red as this is the same company that my employer uses.
They save the ni employers contribution on the childcare vouchers so 11% ish of 243 pounds per month (if you take the max and are a lower rate tax payer). So this should be attractive to them.
I'm not certain but as they are phasing out childcare vouchers, I think you have to be part of the scheme before a set date otherwise they won't take new entrants.

We run one at work through Edenred and it's not really that onerous in terms of paper work once it's set up. Took me a day to set it up and then I do the vouchers once a quarter, which takes maybe 10 mins per staff member using the scheme. (and means staff have to decide 3 months in advance what vouchers they'll need)

There is a risk of significant cost to the employer. While you're working and being paid, there's a small cost saving to the employer and they save employer's NI but that's partially off-set by the voucher company's fees. However if you're on ML or unpaid sick leave, the benefit still has to be paid and the employer foots the bill, which can be significant.

I thought the new scheme was coming into effect this autumn. Has there been a change?

Thanks sophie150 that's helpful. I thought that the voucher scheme was only being phased out once the government tax-free scheme started?? Maybe I've got this wrong.

FieldTrip - I've bumped the thread which links to the decision yesterday....

So annoyed they have delayed this as it was going to be worth so much more to us than the current scheme due to self-employment. Even more annoyed that it seems to be the childcare vouchers companies that caused the delay by taking legal action!