childcare vouchers

[mrbios]

Wondered if anyone could give me some insight to these, i'm going to ring them tomorrow to find out a bit more information but it might be good to hear from members here as to how well they work out...

 

All the information i've gathered is that you can either get childcare vouchers and have the cost of the childcare come out of your salary but not taxed (effecively meaning you're paying less tax per year i guess?) or in some cases your employer will pay for the childcare vouchers or part of the childcare vouchers.

 

What's the criteria for an employer to pay the costs of the childcare vouchers? I'm working 37 hours a week and my partner who is currently working 21hours a week is looking to go back to 34hours a week meaning the baby would need to be in a nursery 2 days a week which i've worked out is a wopping £280 a month which almost defeats the benefit of my partner going back to work full time.

 

Any help or information greatly appreciated

[mole]

hi

 

Me and my wife also looked into these. Very complicated I found and still don't understand it - we also get working tax credits and sometimes your not better off claiming for both. After two long conversations to the tax people they told us we would be better off not applying for childcare vouchers. I work 37 hours a week and wife will be going back for 3 days a week both working for local gov. For us in dorset you'd have to sign up with a company called Imagine: Imagine Co-operative Childcare

 

They then contact the employer (DCC) who pays them up to £243 per month from your salary.

 

I would suggest calling the tax people/revenue and giving them your earnings and all that jazz to see what they suggest would best suit your situation.

 

I wish they would make this easier to understand, having said that I left it up to the misses.

[Sirbendy]

I forget which one we do, but Izzy is in Nursery 4 days a week (as Jem does a 4 day week, at least for now.) It's hellishly costly, and if it wasn't for this malarkey, it'd actually work out better for either Jem or I (probably me) to quit work and go into full-time childcare. If Jem was working a full 5 day week, her wage would be more than I'm on.

 

I know we survived a full year without problem on my income alone, as Jem took a full year maternity leave.

 

I can't begrudge the nursery though, Izzy loves it and it's really bringing out her character. We could have gone for a cheaper institution, but this place is local to here (3 minutes away), and we're very picky about childcare. They were willing to accomodate everything (BLW, Real Nappies, no fixed routine etc), and their security ticked all my "wanted" boxes apart from CCTV on the entrance/exit, which I raised with the management. Their biometric entry system in particular I like.

 

When sprog #2 happens, it may be a case of one of us leaving post and becoming a full time parent..but we'll cross that bridge when that happens.

[Chris_in_notts]

I get the vouchers £243 a month and I think its really good because it comes out of your salary before the tax man grabs hold so you pay no tax on that £243 saving over £40 by my math