Confusion over childcare vouchers.

[Joygirl78]

Hi. I am totally confused about what I am entitled to for paying for childcare. Can anyone advise me?

I have a toddler DC 1 who is (just turning) 2. This year, i have worked part time and she has been at a childminder. My work gives me 'kiddivouchers' which are on top of salary. In addition, my husband gets the government childcare vouchers through his work where you 'buy' circa £250 of vouchers from your salary, but don't pay tax on this income so it costs you a lot less than that to purchase them. We use both sets of vouchers for the childminder, and then pay the remaining balance direct.

DC 2 is due in March. I will take a full year off. We will continue to get both sets of vouchers (have confirmed this with our respective employers) and DC 1 is going to continue part time at childminder giving me some time with DC 2. If i return to work, i get the same allocation of kiddivouchers (i don't get more despite having 2 DCs). Husband continues to buy his vouchers. Obviously the remaining balance on childcare for the 2 of them will be a lot more.

I am trying to work out whether I can afford to go back to work and whether it will cover the remaining balance. I know that from the term following their 3rd birthday, children are entitled to 15 hours of free childcare, and that can be at a childminder or nursery, or playgroup or whatever. DC1 will qualify this from April of next year. When this happens, will i still be able to get the other 2 types of vouchers as well and use them all together (hence the remaining balance that i have to pay will go down from April)? That might make going back to work affordable.

Thanks!

I did post on this earlier but it isn't here...

I'll try again.

Yes you'll still be able to claim and use both vouchers.

You should also see if you are entitled to claim Tax credits. You can only claim it on the portion which you pay from taxed income (ie the remaining balance after the vouchers), but always worth checking.

You also need to see if your childminder does do the funding for 3 yr olds. Not all do as many boroughs require us to be accredited and lots of extra paperwork for funding, for what is actually less than their usual hourly rate.

Additionally, my nursery told me I could only use the 15 hours of free childcare during core schooling hours i.e. 9am-3pm which I use twice per week.

5 hours per day x 2 days per week = 10 hours per week.

But I need the childcare all day, so I have to pay from 8-9am and from 3-6pm even though I'm not using my full 15 hours of allocation each week. I use my government childcare vouchers (tax free salary sacrifice scheme) to pay for these additional 8 hours no probs. huh

huh??? hth!!

clearly it's way past my bedtime and I'm way too tired... maths re-work required!!

6 hours per day x 2 days per week = 12 hours.

So I'm only missing out on 3 hours free child care. Maths was pants but principle was sound!! And simple answer is yes you can use the salary sacrifice scheme (buying the government vouchers tax free direct at source) in conjunction with free government childcare provision.

happy to help....I'm off to bed!!

MarksPA, the free childcare is only for 15 hours a week, over 38 weeks. This is really aim at people who don't need full time care. So you getting 12 hours only a week seems right if you spread it over 52 weeks.

You can see the difference if you compare nurseries for working parents, and ones for SAHP. The former runs sessions like 8-1 and 1-6. While the later has 3 hour sessions, not covering lunch or food. And they run term time only. Therefore you can see why you would need top up if you use the former. But at least we get some hours free!

NickNacks So is it possible to use both childcare vouchers AND tax credits? I thought you had to choose one or the other.

In our case, childcare will be £1100pcm, lets say we get £400 worth of vouchers, can we then claim tax credits on the remaining £700?

Why have the government got a calculator working out whether you'd be better off using vouchers or tax credits if you're allowed to use both?

Sorry for the attempt to hi-jack the thread, Joygirl78.

No it's either tax credit or vouchers. Generally olof you are eligible for tax credits, then you are better off taking the tax credits. I don't know much about your companies scheme. This is about the standard childcare vouchers.

Hmm I thought you could use both and the calculator was to see if it was worth claiming vouchers and part TCs or all TCs.

I could well be wrong though because I don't actually pay for childcare! ( am a childcare provider)

Thanks for all your responses.
I think it looks like I can continue to use my work vouchers plus hubbies salary sacrifice government scheme vouchers for DC2 at childminder. Said childminder will take DC1 to local structured playgroup sessions where I will get a place and I know I can claim the free 15 hours when she is at the qualifying age.

On this basis, I might just break even goimg back to work part time, and in the longer term it will become more cost effective when DC1 goes to school.

God. It's difficult making this work isn't it. I am lucky in that we could get by on one salary if we live modestly. But - I really want to work, like my job, it's really flexible for part timne staff and wrking parents, and if I took several years out it would be so much harder to get a comparable flexible part time job. It seems mental to quit after maternity, but I don't want to effectively cost us money just so I get to do something I want to do.

I am certain we don't qualify for any tax credits, as my husband earns over the threshold. We will be one of those families losing our family allowance when the means test comes in which is a bummer - but also fair enough if they are going to divert the money to more needier families. I am happy to work to bring in some modest contibutions - if only I can just ensure that it will pay and not cost me money!!!