Help! Calling Parents with childcare, I'm confused

[princess jackson]

Well i will start it off, I work constant 4 - 12 shift, with various days off,

DD is 4 and goes to nursery for 2 1/2 hours a day. So my working day fits in just nicely.

Well unknown to myself and collegues, our shift pattern is in the air at the moment and looking like it will change in April, now this effects us quite badly as now i am being informed that i will work early shifts 8-4, and my evening shift will change to 3-11. DH works 8-4 mon to fri.

This is where i get confused, checking out childcare, and i came across the childcare voucher scheme, HOW DOES THIS WORK.

We get child tax credit but not working tax credit, are we able to claim these vouchers.

I can not find any childminders that will collect DD from her Nursery, (every other nursery but not hers!)

She finishes nursery at 1130, and out of school clubs do not start until 3.

And to top it off the shift change means that we will lose money and the rumour is 1000 a year.

So lose money and have to pay for childcare 4 to 5 hours a day GREAT!!!!!!

Trying to get in touch with the union with no luck so far. Really frustrated as no one told us anything until they showed us the new rota, and it is hard, working 7 days in a row.

Please if anyone can help me understand this child care

 

[Kernow_Clan]

I do not know anything about childcare vouchers, but the Child Tax Credit is designed such that any childcare costs (assuming you are registered with a "proper" childminder) are repayed in full.

For a while we paid £64 per week for our 2 eldest, and this was recovered via CTC. It is important to remember to update them if the situation changes else you will lose loads during the next year!!!!

Hope this helps

 

[jen_uk]

A friend of mine who is also training to be a teacher has a 3 year old daughter who has to be in daycare every day as she is at uni etc. She found that it is much cheaper to send her daughter to a private school than to a normal day nursery, private schools take kids from about age 3 so her daugter is already getting an excellent education and is saving money! I think she is at school from 8am till about 4pm.

 

[SEVANS2208]

From memory, the childcare voucher scheme is done through your nursery or school. You fill in some forms, they get the payment and you get a deduction from your bill or in some cases you get a refund at the end of every month or term.

My DD2 changed from nursery to private school (for similar reasons that jen uk stated) and we recived about £450 per term off the bill. This was for full time education and we received this until she turned 5.

I'd speak to the childcare provider to see what they know but I think it's available from the age of 3 to 5 if they attend for over a certain number of hours a week.

Sorry - memory is a bit vague!

 

[wilma-bride]

The childcare vouchers, if they're what I think you're referring to, are a government initiative. The government state that a child aged 3 upwards is entitled to a nursery place. DS goes to nursery full time (7:30 till 5:30) and we get a rebate off our bill of 2.5 hours a day. I will see if I can find the information we were sent when we applied and let you know more.

 

[Kernow_Clan]

Having read the above, this means that the vouchers are relevant to the nursery place only?? Therefore the childcare outside of these times is a separate issue and covered by CTC.

 

[Madjock]

We were given a presentation about this at work a few months back. From what I remember and from what I understood at the time it is a government run scheme the vouchers can be used towards payment for nursery, afterschool clubs, nannies and/or childminders so long as they are registered (that goes for all of them). Anyone is entitled to claim the vouchers. It was a good tax benefit. Unfortunately you can not apply for them if your child is looked after by a relative (even if you pay the relative) which ruled us out as DD is looked after by her Nan, very unfair I thought as we pay what we would pay for a childminder! There was also some rule about being looked after in their own home which again ruled us out but I can't remember what it was.

Annmarie

 

[wideeyes]

Every Child aged 3-4 gets the voucher i.e,they are not income based so Child tax credits don't effect if you can get the vouchers.

They can be used at any nursery or private school that provides an early years education cirriculum.
They can be used for 5 sessions a week which is half a day so if you child was at nursery a full day that would be 2 vouchers. My daughters nursery just fill in the forms for the vouchers and i just have to sign it.

Would like to add that the voucher scheme is not a childcare scheme it is an early years education scheme, so i do not think you can use them with a child minder.

I would contact your local education authority and they will give you all the infomation you need. The number should be in the local phone book.

 

[FloridaSam]

There are two schemes which are getting confused here.

There is a scheme whereby children are entitled to free nursery education. The other is the childcare voucher scheme.

This is a scheme where your employer deducts money from your wages in return for vouchers towards childcare. This can save you money because they qualify for tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) exemptions. This link will give you more information.

It is available towards registered childcare and not just for nurseries. So as someone said you can use with childminders, after school clubs etc.

Sam

 

[kristieuk]

There are two schemes which are getting confused here.

There is a scheme whereby children are entitled to free nursery education. The other is the childcare voucher scheme.

This is a scheme where your employer deducts money from your wages in return for vouchers towards childcare. This can save you money because they qualify for tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) exemptions. This link will give you more information.

It is available towards registered childcare and not just for nurseries. So as someone said you can use with childminders, after school clubs etc.

Sam

Sam, that was my understanding too. It's similar to the old 'luncheon voucher' scheme which was basically a way of saving on your tax bill. It's up to the employer to set up the scheme, and you can benefit up to a limit ie there is a maximum amount of salary you can take in vouchers - I don't know what this is currently sorry.

Princess Jackson - is it a big company you work for? They can't just unilaterally alter the terms of your employment (unless your contract stipulates this is a likelihood). If you object to the changes, they have to what they can to adjust your hours to suit things like childcare etc. If they are not flexible, then they have to show that it is absolutely commercially necessary for them to change your hours. Don't forget that you have rights in this situation. You can always call ACAS - contact details are :-http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=454

They will be able to advise you exactly what your rights are. Good luck!

 

[disneyangel]

I receive the childcare vouchers as part of my salary form a company called ACCOR.(Who do also make luncheon vouchers )You don't pay national insurance on that part of your earnings and in some cases you don't pay tax on a certain amount.You can either get paper versions or an electronic account but this does have to be set up through your employer.

 

[Cochise]

We received the Child care part of this. We were entitled to a certain amount of sessions per term for our child in the Nursery that we put her in. This covered i think somewhere around half a day per day for the whole term. As we put her in full days we paid the balance to the Nursery.