Who do you contact about nursery vouchers and how do they work?

[HeadlessHorsewoman]

DD2 has just turned three (3 weeks ago). Paying through the nose for nursery, and wondered what is the situation regarding nursery vouchers? (They didn't exist when DD1 was little). Who do I ask about them, and are they accepted universally, or do the norseries concerned have to belong to a scheme? I haven't got a clue about any of it. HELP!!!!!PLEASE!!!!!

Now I'm no expert........

There is a government contribution to nursery fees for over 3s, your nursery should be advising you about it, its quite a decent amount, and our nursery used to give us a cheque each time they received theirs (i.e. we paid the full amount as we went along and we were reimbursed twice a year or maybe once a year).

Then there are childcare vouchers which you may be offered as part of a salary package at work. This info would come from your employers and they would send you a voucher (monthly) which you would pass straight to nursery.

The nursery has to be Ofsted approved and fit LEA criteria such as the numerb fo weeks a year it operates. The nursery should give you a form either at the end of this term or beginning of next to claim (It starst from the term after they are 3 ,so in your case January). Even if it operates all year around you are only eligible for the "free" 1/2 hour sessions (5 maximum per week) during the set school term times.

ask the nursery if they accept them - they may well talk you throught the whole process. If not then get on the phone to your local surestart or childcare link.

The way it works here, most nurseries accept the funding and if you enrolled a child at 3+ you would automatically get that amount taken off your bill. The nursery claims the grant.
It does start the term after they turn 3 here but i'm not sure if its the same everywhere - worth checking.

A fully funded 3/4 yr old place at DS nursery would reduce childcare bill by about 40% on a f/t place.

Frumpy grumpy is right, there are two different schemes. The first is the govt. contribution which you receive starting in the term after your child's third birthday, so you should be eleigible from January. It covers 5 x 2.5 hour sessions a week, and there will be a top up to pay for the remainder. Ask the nursery about how they administer this.

The second is offered through your (or DP/DH) employers. Ask them if they offer it. Under the scheme you can 'sacrifice' up to £243 per month from your salary in exchange for vouchers which you can use to pay for your childcare arrangements.You make a saving by not paying any tax or NI on your chosen amount of salary scarifice.

And if you are both working, you can both 'sacrifice' up to £243 each to take tax- & NI-free in vouchers. This, together with the governement contributions for older pre-schoolers covered just about all ds's childcare costs in his last year at nursery.

But be aware that this can affect the amount of child tax credit you get (since you are already paying for some/much of the childcare tax free).

Our vouchers come from Busybees and Accor - but you do need to persuade your employer(s) to offer the scheme (took a year in my case .

Also be aware that it is sometimes possible not to use a voucher provider, who do charge a very small amount for their services (my employer grumbled on about this and it was a factor in it taking ages to set up, despite the fact that they do save money on tax as well).

If you are working for a small company where perhaps there is only one person wanting to use vouchers, the payroll needs to set up a salary sacrifice scheme so they hold back 243 of your untaxed salary (it appears on my payslip).

Then the childcare provider needs to invoice your employer (in this case, that'll be me printing out a standard thing with my nanny's address on it) and your employer then should be able to pay them by cheque or transfer or whatever they like. That way they save the admin fee as well as the NI and tax.

But if there were more than a couple of employees doing it, it probably wouldnt' be worthwhile.

Also be aware that if there is any hitch with your provider's CRB check, the voucher company cannot pay them. So if you use a childminder or nanny, you both need to keep an eye on this and apply for CRB renewal in plenty of time.