Childcare vouchers and date of payment

**rengin99** · 17-10-2012, 06:26 PM

Hi probably a really thick question but here I go!!

I have 3 families all who want to use child care vouchers as payment- I want the funds to hit my bank account for the 1st every month- what date do I need to tell parents to release the vouchers to me? Would the 27th of every month be ok? Obviously realise some months are going to fall strange with 5 week months etc.

Thanks as always.

BucksCM · 17-10-2012, 06:56 PM

If you want the money to hit your account by the 1st of the month I woud ask for them to pay you at least 5 WORKING days before the end of the month.
And you need to stress WORKING days too!

**Belly2009** · 17-10-2012, 07:02 PM

Originally Posted by rengin99

Hi probably a really thick question but here I go!!

I have 3 families all who want to use child care vouchers as payment- I want the funds to hit my bank account for the 1st every month- what date do I need to tell parents to release the vouchers to me? Would the 27th of every month be ok? Obviously realise some months are going to fall strange with 5 week months etc.

Thanks as always.

The problem is if your parents set it up to come out on the same date every month like I do. If that date falls on a weekend, it is not sent to the voucher scheme until the monday and then it is released to you between 2-5 days. Therefore, some months you may not get paid until 2/3rd of the month. I think the latest for me was 4th of the month.

**bunyip** · 18-10-2012, 07:56 AM

I'm not sure you can be that precise. A lot will depend on how efficient your own bank will be in accepting the payments and crediting them to your account.

I use the words "bank" and "efficient" in the same sentence with a particular sense of irony here.

**eddie** · 18-10-2012, 09:33 AM

Originally Posted by bunyip

I use the words "bank" and "efficient" in the same sentence with a particular sense of irony here.

This is one of my (many) bug bears as I am due to be paid by one set of parents on the 10th of the month and they set the vouchers up so the salary save happens on the 10th but it can be the 15th before I receive the payment to the bank. I think I might have to man up and ask them to change it.

**Bess** · 23-10-2012, 04:35 PM

Hi everyone. I have just started childminding and have had an enquiry asking if I do childcare vouchers. I would like to ask if you find them ok to deal with. Are there any pitfalls? Thanks.

**cathtee** · 23-10-2012, 05:59 PM

My childcare voucher is given to me as soon as the parent receives it in the post and i redeem it the same day and it takes about
4 days to get into my account, but I'm not bothered whether it hits my account on a specific date. I have monthly payments off
many parents and they are all on different days of the month, i also get weekly fees too.

**lovechildcare1** · 30-10-2012, 10:31 AM

How do these childcare vouchers work? Say i wanted to offer a discount to parents how would this work if they pay by childcare vouchers? I have heard one or two horror stories about these vouchers for example it takes along time for payment to come through.

Also, Do i have to be part of an accredited network to take childcare vouchers as payment?

**TAZ** · 26-12-2012, 05:55 PM

Originally Posted by lovechildcare1

How do these childcare vouchers work? Say i wanted to offer a discount to parents how would this work if they pay by childcare vouchers? I have heard one or two horror stories about these vouchers for example it takes along time for payment to come through.

Also, Do i have to be part of an accredited network to take childcare vouchers as payment?

I've found the voucher schemes easy to sign up to and haven't had any problems with them as such.

It does take a couple of days for some of them to acknowledge that parents have authorised a payment and then several more for the money to reach my account, which is annoying as they're basically delaying payment, only a problem if you're relying on a payment on a specific date to pay a bill.

You do not need to be part of a network to accept the vouchers, you just normally need to send a copy of your Ofsted certificate.

**caz3007** · 26-12-2012, 06:26 PM

I have used several different voucher companies over the years and they have all been fine as long as the parents ok the payment.

**AliceK** · 26-12-2012, 06:36 PM

I use various vouchers and all have been fine. Most of my parents are due to pay me by the last working day of the month and that's "cleared" funds so when I invoice I work out when the latest day is for them to make their voucher payment and then put that sentence on the invoice so there's no confusion.

xxx

**nikkiv** · 27-12-2012, 08:57 AM

I use two different voucher schemes I have set my account up monthly so the money goes in and is usually cleared by the4th at the latest, I tend to get an email from one company on the Monday and its cleared by the Wednesday! I've never had a problem with either of them

**sarah707** · 27-12-2012, 09:34 AM

Originally Posted by Bess

Hi everyone. I have just started childminding and have had an enquiry asking if I do childcare vouchers. I would like to ask if you find them ok to deal with. Are there any pitfalls? Thanks.

For parents - vouchers allow them to save tax on the money they pay you. They can send you up to £243 in vouchers and not pay tax on the whole amount.

For you - you are guaranteed payment once parents have sent the voucher electronically to you. Normally it takes 2 - 5 working days depending on the company - but parents have to activate it first and this can cause delays if they don't check their emails every day.

The best thing is to be up front and honest with parents about what you want and when you expect the money to arrive and work back from there to find an agreed date for them to organise it.

Hth

**bunyip** · 27-12-2012, 10:31 AM

I accept vouchers and have had no real problems to date. I guess the time lag is a pain if a CM is running a tight schedule on payments coming in versus their outgoings. In my head, I kind of expect a late payment and allow for it when budgeting, so I don't get stung if my bank account isn't credited on the same day every month.

I put into my contracts that all payments, including cheques and vouchers, should clear my account by the due payment date (i.e. I can actually spend them on the stated date.) In reality, I go easy on this, so long as I've had the cheque or had the email that the voucher payment is being processed. I've never applied late fees on the back of this, but it gives me the scope to insist on cash in future, if parents were to get lazy about transferring the vouchers. Never has to do this, so I guess it's kinda working.

I also state that the payment has to be in my bank before I consider it 'paid'. I always have a very tiny nagging worry about what might happen if the voucher company went bankrupt before transferring the money to me. This may sound far-fetched, but in my previous job, we received cleaning vouchers for our uniform. The cleaning voucher company went bust and no-one would accept the now-worthless vouchers. So we ended up paying for our own cleaning, despite the vouchers supposedly being something we'd worked for and earned as an entitlement/salary sacrifice item. It finally got sorted out by the union, but we were all running up large dry-cleaning bills in the meantime.

Tbh, I'm not sure if either of these contract terms could be made to stick legally, but it seems to encourage the parents to make sure they transfer the vouchers in good time.

**julieap57** · 09-01-2013, 09:13 PM

I have 2 children who pay with vouchers 1 pays weekly, and 1 pays monthly it gets paid into my account direct, you get a invoice notification about 3 days before it goes in, i find it a Brilliant system

you can state a particular date you want it to go in just contact the voucher provider