Preschool nursery charging 2% fee for paying by childcare voucher! - anyone else had this?

[TheBlonde]

DS is starting at a new preschool next week
I just got the bill for the first term's fees - they are charging £25 extra (about 2%) as I am paying by childcare voucher (the employer salary sacrifice kind)

Has anyone else had this?

They don't have to pay a fee for the vouchers or do any extra admin. The money just goes straight into their bank account

Doesn't seem fair or right.

no extra charge at my nursery, seems a bit cheeky to me

Nope my nursery doesn't charge - negates the benefits of doing it in the first place!

how very money grabbing of them

I wonder if they're actually allowed to do this, and what justification they are using to do it? Have you looked on what Ofsted say about it, as the scheme is run by the government I'm surprised they would be permitted to?

That would upset me. What if you refuse to pay it? Does your contract say they can charge this 2%?

no idea, but my childminder is saying I might have to pay a higher rate if I choose to pay by this method - so far she hasn't returned the form to me - she reckons she has to pay more tax. Having spoken to the tax office I think she would pay more tax ONLY if she wasn't declaring all her income to start with. But she is a good childminder so will get over this.

Will follow this to see if there is any good reason to charge more.

So you have to pay more because she is practicing tax evasion?

I don't know whether some of the voucher providers charge
DH's employer uses Accor and the employer pays the fees. The carer gets their money in full

No contract as such
The bill states that they will charge fees for late payment

this sounds very odd - i'd be inclined to look more into it. My nursery doesnt charge and as you said it goes straight into their account!!!

This does sound odd. DC's pre-school like the vouchers because it cuts down on admin at their end.

bump to see if anyone else has had to pay this?

I get Accor vouchers from two of my families, I filled out one form, they do all the rest, and it goes straight in my bank. Doesnt make any difference than before, when Th parent paid direct into my bank. Cant see why another CM would have to pay more tax, unless she wasn't declaring cash payments, and no reason whatsoever for the nursery to charge. I would refuse to pay it.

I use the Busy Bees vouchers and have never been asked to pay any extra. Sounds dodgy to me...

i use the early years vouchers
DS nursery charges nothing extra for accepting payment this way
sounds very unusual and cheeky
no extra work for them is it?

I use Busy Bees too and it is so much easier. You can pay online without the need to print and provide a voucher. As a government scheme, I would personally say they are not allowed to do this. Defo check it out and more see what Ofsted say.

This afternoon I spoke to Ofsted (not their remit), the council (surprised, not heard of anyone else charging) and Accor (said carers are not obliged to accept the vouchers at all)

they may not be obliged to accept the vouchers but i don't think they are within their rights to charge either
they aren't administering anything
speak to your nursery's head office

Do you have to pay the terms fees in advance?
If so, do you already have sufficient voucher payments saved up to pay the bill?

Think they are unjustified but from being on the over side of the fence as a manager of a nursery it does create more admin, for example I have 50 families, i.e 50 payments to check, now with parents paying by vouchers (sometimes both parents by different companies), and then rest by standing order, i'm tracking at least double the amount of payments. Some voucher companies are not prompt in issuing payments or payment come through with strange references (childs nursery rather than the childs name). Still don't think they should charge but trying to give balanced view of what it is like on other side. I would estimate it takes up far more time to except vouchers then not.

accept not except!

Same as mummwannabe, we accept vouchers at our nursery and it does cause extra paperwork and also admin (we have to ring through, and be on hold for ages to individually type in voucher numbers)
when we get remittances we have to cross ref etc

however we dont charge.

if the company has stated somewhere in their paperwork/brochure that they will charge then that is all perfectly legit.

ofsted of course have no interest in financial set ups of businesses.

think its a bit cheeky.

nurseries could just refuse paper vouchers, electronic surely doesn't require more checking than other forms of payments?

Hiya
IMHO not usual to charge but perfectly within their right to do so, nurseries can to a greater or lesser extent charge what they want!. Would agree with what others say later on, there is extra admin, the nursery has to set the scheme up and the track chase the payments they can be very poorly referenced, you can ring some providers and get the reference sorted out ie get them to put John Smith on the voucher rather than 1234567.
The cost is however mainly to the employer providing the scheme.
Ofsted have nothing to do with fees and it has even less to do with the council. I suspect you are stuck with it or can look for another nursery, not much help sorry (and since I seem to be upsetting people on here tonight that's not a nasty 'look for another nursery' but a there are lots of children and limited good nurseries and they know that 'look for another nursery'

Right, need to pay them tonight
I think I will pay the bill minus the fee and query it

I don't see how me paying the term's fees in one direct payment is anymore admin for them than a cheque