Childcare vouchers while on maternity leave

[coxsorangepippin]

Hi there, first post in this area of talk so be gentle if I'm not clear!

I know that if you're already claiming childcare vouchers you can carry on during maternity leave. And I know that the child has to be already born before you can register for vouchers.

My employer's provider is saying that you can ONLY claim vouchers on mat leave if you were already receiving them before mat leave eg for an older sibling. They say I am not allowed to register while on mat leave, so I can't have any vouchers til I return to work after the mat leave.

That doesn't sound right to me - is it?

(A colleague is taking parental leave now his DC is six months old so he registered for the vouchers before his parental leave started but after the child was born. I'm wondering if in order to get vouchers I need to return early from mat leave for eg a day, register for vouchers, then go back onto parental leave! )

Thank you so much

Just to be clear, this will be my first DC (fingers crossed for baby's arrival next month!) so I can't start getting vouchers yet.

Your employer is correct. You can't claim them for a child born whilst you are on maternity leave.

The rules have now changed anyway, so you may not be able to get them whilst on subsequent leaves as they cannot be deducted from smp, and were not put in place to be a 'windfall' as it would essentially be free money.

And you can only take 4 weeks parental leave per year, so that won't help you either. Why do you want childcare vouchers anyway? Your child won't be at nursery whilst you are on leave, surely?

Thank you both. I'll have generous occupational maternity pay for six months, which is great - so I was keen to stock up on vouchers. I'll probably have some small childcare costs while DC settles into nursery a couple of mornings a week before I go back.

They are correct I'm afraid.
I think there was also a recent case which ruled that an employer didn't have to pay a first child's vouchers during the second mat leave in unpaid period, luckily mine still seem to be doing it as they are slow to realise change lol!