Is anyone good with childcare vouchers and how the present scheme will relate to the new scheme?

[MaybeDoctor]

I currently receive the full £243 in childcare vouchers from my employer. However, now that my son has started school I don't need so much and am only using a small amount for after school care and for holidays. So I am now accumulating more than I need, which is a pleasant change from years of excruciatingly high nursery bills!

The amount is now building up in the account and I am wondering if I should cut back the amount I take or keep the amount the same for the tax advantage - can I still save them until my child is 16 even though the new scheme is due to take over in Sept? Or will I be able to transfer them over to the new scheme? On the other hand, if I cut back I could probably put a bit more into my pension, which seems sensible.

My after school care provider is not keen on upfront payments, so that is not an option.

Any advice? Thanks.

I think there will be a period where the two schemes run in parallel - so if you're getting ccvs through a workplace-administered scheme you'll be able to continue in that and won't be forced to switch over immediately. As long as your employer keeps running the scheme, that is.

It's worth doing your sums to see if you might be better off in one scheme though. I've looked into it and I've worked out that while we only have one dc in nursery we get more benefit from the employer-based scheme. However if we ever have two sets of fees to pay, the universal scheme would be a slightly better deal for us.

this might help:
www.kiddivouchers.com/taxfreechildcarenews.php

Thanks for that, I have realised that I won't be eligible for the new scheme anyway (no child under 5), so maybe I will continue at the present rate.

The existing scheme will run indefinitely but as soon as you join the new scheme you are no longer eligible for the current one.

it's up to 12 not 5 so may stil be eligible. As a basic rule if you are in a couple, have one child and have childcare costs under 9330 you're better off with the eixsting scheme.

If you are a single parent with one child and have childcare costs under 4665 you will be better off with the existing scheme.

So usually if your child is at school you are better off with the existing scheme.

We got a document from Edenred explaining it. I'll try to upload as I found it really clear.

Also there's no limit on how much you need to get to remain eligible so you could just get 10 a month now and then change back to 243 if you need it in the future