Times are tough for everyone, Childcare Vouchers offer a great way to support your working parents by helping them save up to £1,195 per year on childcare. They're a special government scheme operated through employers that allow you to pay for childcare from your PRE-tax salary.
Helping with the cost of Childcare
Childcare vouchers are a simple, straightforward way to pay for quality childcare. That’s because you don’t pay tax or National Insurance on childcare vouchers to the value of £55 a week – so working parents can save as much as £1,195 a year – double, if both parents sign up for a childcare voucher scheme.
Childcare Voucher Benefits
- Double your allowance if your partner is eligible
- Avoid paying NI on the value of the vouchers
How many vouchers can you buy?
You can pay for up to £243 of childcare with it each month (£55/week). This is PER PARENT so two working parents could get £486 a month of vouchers. The number of children you have doesn't impact this, the limits are the same whether you've one child or an entire Brady Bunch.
Vouchers aren't specific to each child and have a long expiry date, so if you know you're going to have higher childcare costs in the near future get the maximum allowance now.
Also many providers will let you backdate vouchers up to six months, although your child must be born for you to be able to sign up. Check your individual provider's procedures first.
Busy Bee Nursery accepts all the major childcare voucher providers. One of the biggest providers is Edenred – here is a link to their “Voucher Savings Calculator”
http://edenredestimator.opportunitylinks.co.uk/basic.aspx