Childcare Vouchers - Can somebody please explain ?(very confused)

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My dd was 3 in Nov and goes to a private nursery 3 days. It costs me ?90 a week and I get ?12 from the Tax Credits.

We are moving house and area and changing to another nursery which is ?100.

My friend said that I am entitled to ?55 a week in the form of a voucher from the goverment? How do I claim this (if indeed it is correct?) and does this mean I wont get a tax credit?

I don't think any areas use actual vouchers - In our area all children over 3 get 5 subsidised sessions a week (so it doesn't cover the whole cost of a private nursery). The nursery deals directly with the local council and then passes the money back to the parents...so we would pay our monthly nursery bill and once a term we would get a refund of a small amount ( I think it was about £1,100 per year so adds up to a lot).
Don't know how it affects tax credits.
I rang my local childcare information service to ask about the 'voucher' discount - you can find your areas number on www.childcarelink.gov.uk

Message withdrawn

Our twins started their morning nursery school when they were 3. We paid 100% of hte fees that year. In the year they turned 4 the school sent out a form to parents to fill in and then the bills for that year had the Government's voucher amount deducted from them (nice gift Mr Blair). I think it was done by the school but worth just chasing the school to check they do send it out and do the admin for you.

You will get the voucher from the term after your child turns 3, so in your case, from January 2007. Ask your nursery about it when you start back in the New Year.

xenia, i think it was originally from age 4, but is now from the term after the child turns 3.

there are two different things here.

1- some employers offer upto £55 (government set limit) in childcare vouchers in stead of £55 of your wage. you also save on tax and national insurance on this. also your employer saves on national insurance on it, hence the incentive to offer it. employers who offer this usuallu also offer similar schemes for healthcare, dentistry etc etc, you take the incentive and so less wage.

2- the second thing is the free childcare places the government offer for children 3 years and over to get them started on pre school education. the other posters have already explained this.

I also get the other type of childcare voucher (the first type mentioned in the post below)...this is something which is organised by your employer so it depends whether or not your employer offers it as a benefit.
basically you can choose to be paid £243 a month in childcare vouchers and you don't have to pay tax or national insurance on this amount. It saves you some money but can have a knock-on effect on your pension, and on things like maternity benefits so you need to look into it carefully to see if it suits your situation.

ah yes, ft, was originally from age 4 and now 3. Only subsidy for private school fees in the country. Pity it didn't get extended from 4 - 18 at private schools.

it is confusing cos you could in theory be getting -

1- the £55 a week from your employer
2- the free part time nursery place from the government for over 3s
3- childcare help as part of your working tax credit.

Think I will speak to nursery tomorrow and get them to do it. I will then have to tell Tax credits the amount my weekly bill has been reduced by.

Thanks

If you get the tax free ones from your employer, then the value of them doesn't count as nursery fees for tax credits. So if you get help with nursery fees anyway from tax credits there's no real gain in having them.

anyone know where i can find a registered childminder in Aylesbury as I've just seen the nursery fees and they are astonomical?

Need to know by August as I'm due back at work

thx in advance

Dicta - have you looked on www.childcareliink.gov.uk - choose your area and it will give you a list of childminders and the number for your local children's information service. Also ring the children's info service because a lot of childminders won't put their details onto the website.

if she was 3 in nov you should get 5 sessions (2.5-3 hours each session) free plust you are entitled to £55 a week in vouchers fromyour employer through schemes like busy bees - but that is up to your employer, not the nursery. This works well for 3 yr olds in 3 days a week, which is what my DTs do, you can pretty much cover the lot if you get employer vouchers