Unused childcare vouchers. Anyone successfully claimed a refund??

[snowplop]

I have £1200 childcare vouchers that I will not use. DCs are 11,11 and 13 and no longer need after-school care. DP has gone from working away from home for extended periods to working from home. I'm a teacher so we don't need holiday clubs either. I've claimed the maximum £243 for 13 years and it just didn't occur to me to cancel

My employer contacted the voucher provider (Fair Care) today on my behalf but they have refused a refund because there are not 'exceptional circumstances'.

I know it was an oversight on my part but at the end of the day it's my hard-earned salary sitting in an account somewhere and I would like it, or part of it even, back!

Has anyone experience of this? Or any advice?

No experience of this OP, although I’m also in credit at the moment with and end to the need for childcare on sight. Can you see if there are any holiday schemes that your 11 year olds might be interested in to break up the holidays? Eg sports based or coding? I’ve heard PGL accept them as payment as well.

You don't need holiday clubs, but .ca they be used for any sports your children may like to attend?

Yes, we did as I didn't realise I accrued them whilst on maternity leave. I contacted my HR department at work who arranged a refund through my next month's pay (minus the tax free bit).

Really easy to do!

Thanks for your replies and suggestions. Yes, PGL is an option I suppose. I wish Center Parcs took the vouchers!

Hi albazavi. It's great that you managed to get a refund. May I ask which voucher provider you were using? I gather from searching online that some providers will refund, some won't.

Stagecoach accept them I think.

I wonder if it would be possible to pay for a friend’s childcare one month and they give you the cash?

If you have family members that still pay childcare, can you arrange with them to pay for them and they give you the cash instead. I’ve also heard that some employers can claw it back and then you’ll pay the extra tax that was deducted but I’ve not done it myself.

I did but it took months of arguing. I had to kick up an enormous stink with my HR dept. and with the voucher company. They were not happy about refunding but eventually they did.

I offered to "sell" them on to my nieces and even to friends for their younger children but the voucher company said I couldn't do this.

In a final meeting with my company's HR director I asked what the voucher company would be doing with MY money when DS aged out. I still don't know the answer to this!

I'm not in a union but I threatened to join one and to involve my MP if my money wasn't refunded. As you are a teacher I would suggest you involve your union.

Conversely, DP's company just processed his refund without any argument at all. It just seems to depend on the company.

My advice: kick up a stink, ask difficult questions, escalate it with HR and talk to your Union.

Good luck!

Thanks all. They aren't transferable so paying for someone else's child is a no go.

Yoga your story is encouraging. Well done on kicking up a fuss. I have been under the impression that it is the voucher provider refusing the refund, not my employer. I'll need to investigate further and yes, absolutely involve my union if I need to.

The more I think about this the crosser I get

They aren’t transferable, but on my account the payment part is just a place where you type in the registration details of the childcare setting. So surely you could type in any details and your nephew’s reference number?

@snowplop - yes it was the voucher company who were refusing but they said that my HR dept. had to make the case for the "exceptional" circs. So I had to convince HR that I couldn't use the vouchers anywhere locally and that was prohibited from using them to pay for someone else's child. At first they were rather unwilling to get very involved and this was why I had to escalate it to the director.

If I hadn't been able to get my money back (after tax was deducted of course) then I probably would have tried MaybeDoctor's idea of just setting up the other child within my account.

They may not be transferable but how would they know? You just add a provider and put in the reference number the childcare provider asks for? Should be quite easy to do if you know someone who could use them.

Well the childcare provider will know....

My understanding was that because they are tax free, then you can’t cash them in or transfer them.

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat My childcare care provider seems to be blind to them without the reference number. I didn't submit it properly first time, they had to wait until all other payments came in to assign mine to my account.

@BikeRunSki you can get a refund but it's at the employer's discretion I thought, I'm assuming they'd have to adjust tax, £243 chilcare voucher is actually about £168 of cash, it saves about £75 a month in tax.

Which is weird because mine come in with the parents and the child’s name on them. Possibly it’s voucher company dependant and how they lay the remittances out.

Its difficult because you don't have exceptional circumstances, you knew how old your children are

www.telegraph.co.uk/money/ask-a-money-expert/can-get-refund-960-unused-childcare-vouchers/

The more I think about this the crosser I get

It’s YOUR fault though!

I got a refund with edenred. I would go with paying for other activities and I've heard you can use for tutoring and stuff too?

I’d imagine if you used them for another child you’d be breaking tax laws? So if you were found out you may be in trouble??

I agree it’s totally unfair though. It should be very easy to refund (but you won’t get £1200 as you’ll have to pay tax on it). If some voucher companies can do it they all should be able to.

I got mine back no problem I just paid the tax due through my employer

I wonder if it would be possible to pay for a friend’s childcare one month and they give you the cash?

It's tax fraud. As long as you aren't fussed if HMRC find out, go ahead

OP unfortunately they are right - we were very careful to stop getting them at the exact point that we stopped needing them. Asking nicely would be more likely to work then going in cross, as they are in the right and it was your error.

You have to pay the tax on them to get them back out otherwise the system would not be fair

Surely you're just cross with yourself aren't you?! I can't imagine parting with over a grand and not thinking where it's going!

Please do not take the advice from @purpleolive , what they are suggesting is tax avoidance and you would be encouraging a childcare provider to engage in fraudulent activity which would be wholly unfair on them.

Tax has not been applied to the childcare vouchers, so unfortunately, the voucher company cannot just agree to a refund. It will state in the t&cs that vouchers are non-refundable (unless you experience an unforeseen/exceptional circumstance), if refunds were allowed in any circumstance, it opens up the whole scheme to fraud and wouldn't be fair if some people received a refund but others couldn't because their employers won't agree to process it.

The appropriate tax needs to be applied when a refund is made through payroll and as the childcare voucher company cannot oversee this transaction, it opens up the risk to fraud and the scheme being misused.

Childcare vouchers can however be used for PGL camps, Super Camps, etc. Definitely worth having a look to see if you can use them.

I know it seems unfair, but think of all the tax savings you made over the years and if your refund is agreed, you obviously wouldn't be receiving the whole £1200 back as a refund.

Hope you find somewhere you can use them!