child care vouchers

[lilybird]

this has probably been asked many times before,but does anyone know anything about them?
is it worth appling for them?

[teabelly]

Lilybird,

Yes if you or your husband are liable for NIC and income tax and want to pay less

You can use them to pay for childcare through most nurseries/playgroups/nannies/childminders (think biggest exception is they don't cover costs where children are looked after by grandparents or other family members that aren't registered to do so).

In april the amount went up to £55pw or £243pm - that's £2916 tax free a year, and each parent can claim this, or up to the value of the childcare if it's less.

This \link{http://www.fideliti.co.uk/index.htm\website} will give you advice re getting your employer to initiate such a scheme if they don't already (if they do just talk to your Personnel dept). There are many companies that offer a voucher service, others include; Accor, Busy Bees, Sodex Ho Pass, Care-4...hth

[dreamteamgirl]

Slightly late response, sorry,

BUT yes, very worthwhile. The only negatives IMO are that they effect your pensionable income, earnings for redundancy and ooooh one other thing taht escapes me... Basically only matters if you are made redundant whilst taking or retire within 3 years of taking them. Flippin marvelous idea tho. We move take them and they are so useful, I save a fortune

[ayla99]

inland revenue site has 4 points to check:

• affect on your pension contributions
  
• your entitlement to Working Tax Credit or Child Tax Credit;
  
• your entitlement to other benefits eg Maternity Pay
  
• your future right to the original cash salary.