Employer refusing to pay childcare vouchers during SMP

[EllasMummy09]

Hi

I hope someone can help me..

If I understand correctly the law regarding Maternity leave benefits changed in 2008. (Amendments made in 2008 to the Sex Discrimination Act (SDA). One of the changes being that the value of the vouchers can only be deducted from my maternity pay providing the actual amount of pay does not fall below statutory maternity pay. Which would mean that my employer need to pay the vouchers while I'm receiving only SMP or have no pay at all.

Is this right?

I have asked about this and my employer is refusing to make any contribution to towards Child Care Vouchers whilst I'm on maternity leave. Has anyone been in this situation before and what was the outcome?

Thanks!

Hi all,
I'm in the same position. I sent an email to my HR department yesterday to confirm I would be receiving the childcare vouchers and got the following reply:

"With regards to Childcare Vouchers, it is normal Company Policy that when an employee goes on Maternity Leave the Childcare Voucher support ceases. We are not able to deduct the amount from Statutory Maternity Pay as this will bring you below the Minimum Hourly Rate."

I've now sent them the HMRC link so I shall see what they say.
It doesn't surprise me that they're behind - in my last maternity leave I had to dispute the holiday pay as they weren't including bank holidays.

I'm quite pissed off with in general so perhaps I'll go for it with a test case!

I thought to give an update on my behalf, even though I'm still waiting for the final decision.

After posting here, I contacted ACAS and Working Families Benefits. Both advisors confirmed what Flowery has said here; CCV can not be deducted from SMP therefore company should contribute towards them. However, this seems to be a bit of a hot topic at the moment, and ACAS and WFB organisation are both getting queries about this regularly, from employers and from employees. Problem is, that even if the law/policies say one thing, the matter has not been settled in court yet, so some employers are trying to get away from paying the vouchers.

After speaking to advisors, I contacted my department director, who is also in charge of HR. At the moment I'm waiting to hear from them (emailed two weeks ago).

Success!
Thank you Flowery for the link - work have now agreed to pay!
Yipeee.

Yay!

I think that it is wrong that employers should have to pay for vouchers during SMP.

My employer refuses to offer childcare vouchers for precisely these reasons. It is a small family run business and they say they can't afford to do it so we all lose out.

Hi - my husbands company has taken exactly the same stance - although it costs them nothing to continue his childcare vouchers - because they have had several girls off on maternity leave they say it is too expensive for them so they have said that they will not offer the scheme to anyone from now on.

Does anyone know if it is possible to get vouchers through another route - perhaps via HMRC??

I'm watching with interest

I'm in a very similar situation. My employer reckons they will require repayment fir the childcare vouchers provided
Everything I've found suggested they can't do this

In addition I don't claim the full £243 monthly limit. But if it's 'free money' I sort of want to start. But I'm scared and it seems kind of wrong to do this. But I'll kick myself for 'missing out' on the full amount of vouchers for 6 months if that's what I'm entitled to

So difficult

And whether it's wrong or not, fwiw i think it is illogical and unfairi, it is the law and what we are entitled to and therefor it should be aknowledged and provided by employers without employees having Yo fight for it

Although with that level of illiteratcy it's a wonder I've got a job

I've been trying to pursue this issue with my employer without success. They have barred me from the complaints procedure and are refusing to respond to my enquiries beyond stating that child care vouchers are not a non-cash benefit (in their view). I work for a large public sector employer and never anticipated hitting a problem with this when the position seems so clear I've therefore pretty much decided to pursue it to the employment tribunal-any tips/views?

I have read this thread and thought I was in a very good position to explain this to my employer, however, they have come back with this.......
" we do not have childcare vouchers as part of contractual terms and conditions of employment. We have been operating the government initiative which helps working parents by providing tax exemptions on childcare - we have been administering the scheme accordingly. But we are not allowed to offset the vouchers against smp"
I work for a small business, with limited benefits.....do I have a leg to stand on? Anyone? Would really appreciate help and advice on this. Many thanks in advance.

oldbusshed you have the same leg to stand on as everyone else. All employers who provide childcare vouchers do so as part of the same government initiative, but in doing so, they are amending the terms and conditions of those employees who are in the scheme, reducing their salary and providing benefits instead.

Does the HMRC rules not help you? Are your employer claiming they don't apply to them?

Thanks Flowery, I am due to call my employer later today but she (an HR professional) seems to think otherwise! I attached your helpful links and that was the response I got.....I will re-emphasize your point re HMRC!
Wish me luck! After 8 years service, with limited benefits I had hoped it would be easier!
Will keep you posted!

Hi, apologies Flowery but I'm another one who needs clarification on this! Sorry, I have read the thread but in my pregnancy-addled state I'm still a bit unclear.

I'm due to begin mat leave in April. I currently receive childcare vouchers - I sacrifice some of my salary each month and receive £243 worth, which currently saves me about £50 in tax.

I'm fairly new to the company so am only entitled to SMP.

So, is it the case that my employer will have to pay the £243 each month? Where will this come from - do they need to pay it themselves?

Sorry for all the questions but could you advise me on some wording for me to use to ask my employer about this? I work for a very small company with just one rather inept "HR" person so I need to word it as clearly as possible!
Thank you...

Mysecretumbrella Yes they will need to pay it themselves. You are entitled to keep receiving the vouchers but they are not allowed to deduct from SMP which means that unless you get anything over and above SMP they need to cover the cost themselves.

Have you had anything in writing from your employer about your maternity leave/benefits during maternity leave yet?

Thanks for the quick response! That sounds fantastic. I do have a letter from them describing the details of my maternity leave but this doesn't mention non cash benefits other than pension (where it says that the company contributions will continue to be made). They won't have come across this before as it is a tiny company and only one person has been on mat leave in the past few years and she was a first time mum so wouldn't have been receiving vouchers. In fact there is only one other person in the company receiving vouchers at the moment (a man).

Right, I'm going to send them an email and will let you know what response I get!

Thanks again! I'm so pleased I spotted this thread.

Make sure you don't ask; don't imply there's any wiggle room at all. Just acknowledge their letter, and say that having checked, you understand that all contractual non-cash benefits continue throughout maternity leave and as such could they please confirm that you will continue to accrue all your contractual holiday and will also continue to receive your childcare vouchers as per usual as although their letter specifically mentions pension it doesn't mention those.

Thanks, I will let you know what response I get!

I feel a little guilty as it's such a small company and I've only been there for 8 months (became pregnant just as I joined!), but I'm guessing they should have something in place to cover these sorts of scenarios... maybe!

Just to say - really useful info on this thread. I've just received my first SMP payslip and have had childcare vouchers deducted from SMP. This is my 3rd baby and I originally thought something may have changed - it seems not. Payroll seems to have gone a bit haywire of late - when I returned from last mat leave they didn't seem to be aware and I wasn't paid after the first month which was tricky given I had a huge childcare bill to pay! I agree with flowery's comments that it's not companies being mean or malicious where elsewhere they are good, it just comes down to individuals who aren't as clued up as they should be/human error/junior staff processing payslips which are too complex for them.

Medjool, are you going to go back to them and explain that they shouldn't have been deducted from SMP? It is all confusing, isn't it!

I'm sure this is going to me a nightmare for my company as our one and only HR person already makes a huge fuss over doing the payslips each month (despite it being pretty much all contracted out as far as I can tell) and I'm not sure he'll cope with any additional complexity! Also he made a big thing of letting me know that the company are still having to pay some of my SMP (NI maybe) and is clearly not happy about the extra hassle my mat leave is causing.

I have read this thread with interest. In three months time I will start mat leave for my first DC. I am hoping to return to work after a year and will then need to sort out childcare for DC1. I haven't started to get childcare vouchers yet as assumed you could only get them when you had a DC/needed them - but from what I have read it would seem that I could have already started getting them and 'saving them up' for use in the future IYSWIM - firstly have I understood this correctly?

Following on from that and from what I have read here I'm now wondering whether it might be an idea to start getting them asap before I go on mat leave in order to get the benefit of them whilst I am off (I get 6 weeks at 90%, 39 weeks SMP, then zero but do get my car allowance throughout). I don't want to sound as though I am 'playing the system' but just exploring possibilities as it will be v tight financially when I return to work (but I will need to do so in order to keep my career ticking over as I work in an area where any more than a year off could mean I would be v out of date v quickly!). HR may say 'no' but just wondering whether it's worth a try!

Any thoughts appreciated. TIA

Hi Guys, just in case anyone is reading this with relation to other benefits, flowery has been brilliant. One thing I did want to point out to you all (as I found to my cost!) is that if you have a benefit such as a company car you will still be taxed on this through your SMP so I ended up not recieving the full SMP but considerably less (£85). So it might be worth finding out if you will be taxed on the childcare vouchers as a benefit? Or just bear that in mind if you have any other benefits from work. It gave me quite a shock as I am obviously not too tax savvy

BlueCrane you can't get them unless you already have a child. So this really affects people going on maternity leave for their second or subsequent children. Sorry!

Was just wondering! Thanks for the info...useful to know for next time around though!

I think the comments here from some posters are so grabby, it's shocking.

I can see that situations like this are going to make firms refuse to offer vouchers at all.

Imagine how tough it is for a small firm in this climate. To then have to pay this money, from their own bottom line, in my opinion is ridiculous.

Especially to some posters here who have only been with their employers for a matter of months. and some posters saying "i could increase my vouchers" to cream more money too... Is it any wonder employers are wary??

It wld / will put me off ever offering them as a benefit.. What a shame.