childcare vouchers one parent is a student the other works full time

[Nuya]

Hi there,

I am new here and was hoping to find answers to a question here that has been bugging me for a while now.

My partner, our currently almost 1 year old son and me are moving to the uk in august.
I will be studying at university, while my boyfriend will be working full time.

we are not married, but will be living together and we have a child together.

My question now is: i always find the information that childcare vouchers are only for single working parents or if both parents are working. Does university education (MRes and a PhD after that) count as working in this context? Or do i count as "stay at home mum" being only a full time student but not actually a full time employee? Can my boyfriend buy the childcare vouchers or is he not eligible?
Or maybe arent we eligible at all being from outside the UK (but within the EU - germany)

Thanks in advance to anyone who might have information on the matter. :)

I think you might be getting childcare vouchers and working tax credits confused.

Vouchers- this is a salary sacrifice scheme and anyone whose employee offers this can take part. This scheme is changing soon but this is how it stands.

WTC- is income and circumstance based. You can apply (assuming your immigration stays allows you to draw from the public purse, not sure as you don't say in op) to hmrc and they will let you know what you are entitled to.

*employer
*status

Sorry autocorrect !

Oh ok thank you! I thought i read that only if both parents work childcare vouchers could be bought. That my boyfriend would have to buy them from his employer i know. And that i would not be able to buy any i know as well since i am a student and dont have an employer. So i might have missunderstood something (i am not very familiar with the childcare system in the uk yet). Thanks for the answer though! Tax credit i dont think we will get. I will be getting a scholarship and my boyfriend will be working fulltime. So i dont think we will be eligible regardless of imigration status. And thats quite alright :)
I will have to have another look at the webpage where i found the information that childcare vouchers can only be bought if borth parents work. Maybe i missunderstood it since english isnt my first language.
Thanks again!

www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/childcare-vouchers

What you read was probavly about TFC which is the new government scheme being brought in this autumn to replace childcare vouchers. A family with two parents can only get TFC if both parents are working.

Childcare vouchers are per parent and run through an employer so nothing to do with family situation.

It's changing I think in October, but until then you're ok just for one parent to claim if available.

Ok so if it is changing and what i read applies than how is it in our case, can my boyfriend still buy them in the new system if i am a university student (therefore studying fulltime and not sitting at home being able to care for the baby during that time)? Because since we will only move to the uk in august the new system will be in place soon after that if i understood you correctly? So it is important for us to know beforehand... quite nervous about the move :D not to say terrified to mess everything up -.-

Does university education count as "working parent" in this context? I am really co fused to be honest. And dont quite know who to ask. Is there a person i could contact? Maybe the university knows? I think they have some sort of family service or something. Maybe i will just give them a call...

Student finance do a Childcare Grant depending on income. OH and I are both full time students and get 85% off DD's nursery fees.

Thanks for the information! :) are there a lot of students who have children in the uk? Or is it, like it is here, rather very few students with kids?

It seems like we are "out of luck" then... since if i am understanding this correctly, my boyfriend wont be eligible for TFC, since i am "not working"? And i wont be eligible for the student discount on childcare since my boyfriend will be "earning too much"... thats just great... since we will need a full daycare place for our son, since i will be in the lab all day and my boyfriend will be working all day... meaning we will be spending close to half my boyfriends income on childcare... :D -.- (estimated... i dont actually know how much of his income we will get to keep after tax. My scholarship, luckily, is tax-free)

It is unfortunate, but we will manage (i think). Plus i will be talking on the phone with someone from the university about this soon.

As lopez said depending on your immigration status you may not be elligible for wtc since they are public funds(state benefits). I am not sure if the new scheme consists of public funds.

And you are not the only one confused. The whole system is very complicated since they introduce a new scheme without removing the previous one so they end un with parallel and mutually exclusive programs.

Your partner should be able to get childcare vouchers if he joins before autumn.