Ways to use up childcare vouchers.

[toodisorganisedforschool]

Due to covid and general disorganisation, DH and I have a substantial amount of childcare vouchers. Like, loads. At the moment, my 16yo has tuition twice weekly, but that will end once his GCSE’s are over and he ages out of us being able to use them for him.
Our younger one is about to go into year 10. We could set him up with a couple of hours tuition too from next year. But, we were wondering if there is anything else a bit more exciting that we can use them for? He wouldn’t go on a PGL holiday (they’ve done it before, he wouldn’t go without his brother or a friend) but might do something else residential if it’s more exciting. Abroad, maybe? Holiday clubs are a non-starter as he never liked them when he had no choice but to go. Now it’s not necessary so there’s no chance he’d go to one.

Does anyone know of any really interesting activities / residential opportunities that take the vouchers and could pique the interest of a very stubborn 14/15yo? We’re in London but could drive outside as long as it’s not ridiculously far.

Oh and I’ve asked my employer of they’d consider a refund (taking off tax / NI, obviously). It’s a hard no.

I managed to get some refunded because of Covid - these shouldn’t be allowed to be non-refundable. It was a pain from memory though.

Hopefully you can find something fun to do with them - I’m sure MSE had a post about PGL Family hols recently?

Interesting. My employer allowed me a refund, but I did ask only about a year after the pandemic. Why on earth did you kept paying in when you’d accumulated so much?

I'm in the same boat. Got about £5-600 and I've had them for years. Kids are now 15 and 13 so following for ideas.

How did you use them for tuition?

Pay a friend's childcare bill. Probably not allowed but I got away with it once for a friend

I had a refund and paid a small admin fee. It was preferable to putting two tweens into a 3 day club and having lots of complaints.

Oh we had this too!
I have twins doing GCSEs. We paid up front for 6 months tuition for them in maths and English to use them up. Started in the summer and ran out about a month ago. Was a good way to use them up.

you just need to find a tuition agency that will accept them.

Alternatively I did find some water sports camps etc that would take them but nowhere near by so would have needed us to take a week off and take them.

We also booked them into a cooking camp for a week when they were about 14 - they were the oldest kids there but they did enjoy it.

You could pay for a friend to with them on PGL? That’s what we did, two years in a row for DS and a DD a riding holiday which her cousin went on too, on us.

we did something similar and also forgot about an old account when dh changed jobs. We ended up with over a grand and zero childcare needs - and no local suitable activities that took vouchers!

We just got a refund in the end which was the best solution all round as we needed the money!

Sorry if this is really obvious, but what are these vouchers?

Old school way of getting tax free childcare, before the government account system.

We used ours up for PGL. You could pay for a friend to go aswell?

My employer has said a flat no to a refund and directed me to the terms and conditions. Frustrating but that’s that.
Looks like it’s going to be lots of tuition going forward for my youngest. I think he’d find that more acceptable than another PGL holiday or a holiday club!

They were a tax free way to pay for childcare, they were stopped in 2018 so if you had kids after that you probably won’t have heard of them. Even though they were stopped you’re still allowed to use them if you have some left until your child is I think 15 and a half.