If you pay your pre-school fees using childcare vouchers can you tell me

[MrsFogi]

how the logistics work. I have an invoice for the full amount of the fees which is due next week. Payment for the vouchers will start being taken from my salary monthly from 22 Jan. The pre-school accepts childcare vouchers. Will I just end up paying the balance monthly or do I need to pay it up front? Are they likely to be ok getting the first childcare voucher payment at the end of the month rather than now? I'll call them next week but just want to get an idea of how it normally works.

It's down to the pre-school, when I converted to vouchers I asked the money person if it was okay if I paid in installments for a few months but eventually I would be able to pay the terms fees all up front.

It depends if your preschool wants paying in advance or not. If it does insist on that you might have to pay the first month in full without the vouchers and then the second month you could pay with your first lot of vouchers.

You have to ask the preschool, they are often a bit more flexible than private nurseries on this. Especially if they know why you are paying late.

You should pay the first month up front now and your vouchers can start the month after.
Has your child already started? Does your c/care provider usually ask for that month's payment in advance because I think they'll be lucky to get anything before mib Feb.

Btw, the money you save is fab but the system is a total PITA. You need to give loads of notice to change amounts etc.

The way it used to work for me was that I got the childcare vouchers put into a "holding account" on payday (i.e.22nd). Then the voucher company forwarded my fees to teh nursery on teh 1st of the next month.

So in your situation I would say that you should pay Januaries fees in cash. Then pay Feburary fees out of your Jan pay packet; March fees out of Feb etc.

Or at least that is how I did it.

It is an unwieldy system, definitely. I regularly have to change my amounts - 3 children in different childcare/school situations, I really can't tell months ahead exactly how much I'll need and it keeps changing. But you can change the amounts (my employer lets me) with a month's notice.

Preschool is harder in a way than a private nursery as (in ours at least) you only pay during terms, so it's irregular.
I found it helped if I built up a bit of extra in the voucher account, and then it's easier to pay the fees on time.