Banned from joining Childcare Voicher scheme after announcing pregnancy

[AnythingNotEverything]

I'm hoping someone can help. I'm pregnant with no3 and looking into the childcare voucher scheme through work.

Our policy states (and HR have clarified) that you cannot join the scheme after you have announced your pregnancy (in writing).

I understand the benefits (and therefore cost to the business) of having to continue payments during SMP, but can anyone explain how this isn't discriminatory?

Thanks!

Sounds discriminatory to me. If you would otherwise be able to join the scheme at any time and are being denied access to this benefit because of your pregnancy I'm not sure how they'd justify it as not being discriminatory. You are being treated less favourably as a result of your pregnancy.

I think you need to consider a grievance, or at least writing stating that withholding a benefit available to other staff on the grounds of pregnancy is unlawful discrimination and asking them to make the benefit available to you just as it is to other staff.

Thanks Flowery.

I have no legal advise but this look totally wrong.

So when are you supposed to join? Before you get pregnant? Or after betting pregnant but before announcing?

I'm not sure of the legal status but it doesn't sound right to me!! Given you already have 2 other children by my reasoning you should be perfectly entitled to join the scheme whether pregnant or not because you can claim vouchers for one/both of the other children.

I suspect they are trying to avoid some of the technical payroll complexities of having someone using the childcare voucher scheme via a salary sacrifice when effectively the salary stops for the Maternity period. The policy is very badly worded though and would be, in my view, discriminatory. Worth chatting to someone in payroll / HR to understand the rationale before taking this further.

OP I would have a look at this government guide for employers on childcare vouchers. It very clearly states that the scheme should be open to all employees and that you should not exclude employees who are absent due to maternity leave.

Copies from page 9 For any of your employees to qualify for
the exemption, you should provide childcare
vouchers in a scheme that is:
•
open to all of your employees, or
•
open to all of your employees based at the
location where the scheme operates.
This means that you should not exclude any
employees from your scheme, for example
on the grounds of:
•
gender
•
seniority or position
•
level of pay
•
length of service
•
absence due to maternity leave.
But, this does not mean that
all
employees
have to participate.
For example, employees who cannot or
choose not to participate may be those:
•
without children in qualifying childcare
or whose children are over the qualifying
age limit
•
whose benefit from the childcare element
of Working Tax Credit is greater than the
saving in tax and NICs from vouchers.