Tax free childcare schemes as an employee benefit
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@Emily ah that’s so annoying cos the savings I could make via this scheme if my chosen nursery did accept it are over double the £2k max saving you get via the gov scheme! Why would they do that ☹️ it must be something the g’ment doesn’t like because the nurseries are still being paid the same fees regardless right?
Was this the tax free childcare vouchers scheme? I think that was stopped.
@Caroline in 2018, the Childcare Voucher Scheme run by the government was scrapped. They replaced it with Tax Free Childcare, where you can claim up to £2000 a year to support with childcare. However, my post is about employee benefit childcare schemes, which offer enhanced childcare cost support beyond what the government offers. Similar to how an employer might offer enhanced maternity pay beyond the statutory offered by the government.
@Charley ok. Aside from the childcare voucher scheme where you could salary sacrifice to get them in not aware of any employers doing much in this space. Following with interest.
@Caroline I’ve done some basic Googling and apart from the Enjoy Benefits Workplace Nursery Scheme which I currently have access to but doesn’t seem to actually cover many nurseries, the only other I’ve come across is the Mintago Childcare Salary Sacrifice scheme. I’ve passed it onto my HR & People team to have a look at in more detail to see if they offer more comprehensive coverage than Enjoy Benefits.
I used this scheme! My son already attended a small nursery and I asked them if they would accept the enjoy benefits scheme. They said yes 😌 they were happy as they got £100 per month for doing so and bought an amazing outside play area thing. Depends on the nursery but my nursery were happy to accept when I explained the benefits to them. Might be worth speaking to other nurseries xxx
Sorry was meant to add, the nursery probably liked it as it was guaranteed income for the year as it was a contract. But yes the large chains don’t accept it but smaller ones might. Also worth checking you’re eligible. I believe the nursery fee had to be over a certain amount per month. Also when it’s taken from your wages you can’t fall under the national minimum wage so just get HR to check x
@Rosie so glad you were able to benefit form it! Gutted I won’t be unless we change his nursery, which I don’t particularly want to do tbh.
I think this scheme is or at least was being withdrawn because of the tax free childcare via the gov. My work (NHS) used to do this via the salary sacrifice etc, but they’ve now stopped.