Parents over paying in childcare vouchers?

**S Stars** · 05-01-2014, 04:38 PM

Hi

I have got a family that use me for 2 children 2 days a week. They are paying me in vouchers but want to over pay each month - as both parents want to pay in their full allowance each month meaning I would eventually end up owing them money - is this allowed or normal? I'm not quite sure how to respond to them!

Thank you ! X

**hectors house** · 05-01-2014, 04:51 PM

No, you are in no circumstances allowed to give them money back - they haven't paid any tax on this money, the only thing they can use it for is childcare - you must tell the parents that this is classed as fraud / tax evasion.

If parents overpay by mistake eg: when the contract comes to an end, so you can't give them the childcare they have paid for, then you have to contact the voucher company who will give you bank account details and advice on how to send the money back to them - this then goes back into the parents voucher fund.

**tulip0803** · 05-01-2014, 05:01 PM

Agree with Hector any over payments go back to the voucher company they will then sort out any repayments that the family would be entitled to.

It is Tax evasion/fraud.

**S Stars** · 05-01-2014, 05:05 PM

Thanks so much that was what I thought!

I will speak to them tomorrow and tell them they need to pay me the exact amount due - am I right in thinking they can set the amount to be used and it doesn't need to be the full amount they are entitled to ? ( sorry new to this!)

Thanks again x

**dawn100** · 05-01-2014, 06:32 PM

Parents can ask for the full allowance to be allocated to the voucher company and then only pay you what you are due, they can then build up a reserve for the future, one of my parents did this whilst on maternity leave and although what she pays is more than what she pays into the scheme each month she has been using the reserve and hasn't yet had to top up the voucher payments with cash. But like others said you can not refund it to parents!

**joannes** · 20-01-2014, 03:46 PM

I've just had this from a parent's viewpoint with my little boy. I took him out of nursery at Christmas when I left work, ready to train and get set up as a childminder. Because you have to give over 28 days notice with the voucher company it's meant that I'm £130 in credit. When I rang up they said as it's not a benefit, (it's an income substitution scheme) you can't have a refund in cash. However, it stays in the child's account for up to 15 years. So I could use it when I have baby no. 2 or whatever to go towards childcare. It is really confusing and I don't envy settings taking so many of them. When I increased Thomas's days at nursery it took another 3 weeks for the vouchers to catch up so I was totally lost with what I owed them as I set the vouchers up to pay them directly. Great in theory these vouchers but blimming confusing!

**hectors house** · 20-01-2014, 04:13 PM

Originally Posted by joannes

I've just had this from a parent's viewpoint with my little boy. I took him out of nursery at Christmas when I left work, ready to train and get set up as a childminder. Because you have to give over 28 days notice with the voucher company it's meant that I'm £130 in credit. When I rang up they said as it's not a benefit, (it's an income substitution scheme) you can't have a refund in cash. However, it stays in the child's account for up to 15 years. So I could use it when I have baby no. 2 or whatever to go towards childcare. It is really confusing and I don't envy settings taking so many of them. When I increased Thomas's days at nursery it took another 3 weeks for the vouchers to catch up so I was totally lost with what I owed them as I set the vouchers up to pay them directly. Great in theory these vouchers but blimming confusing!

I think then that it should be possible for the voucher companies to pay any surplus left in the account direct to the parent less tax at basic rate. I look after siblings, when the mum was off on maternity leave the dad still paid the maximum he could into the voucher account to soften the blow for when they had to pay for 2 children, however what would have happened if the second child was born with serious medical problems and the mum couldn't return to work -hundreds of pounds would be sat in a voucher account unable to be used.

This has just happened to a work colleague of my OH, first baby has been born with long term medical problems, the mother luckily works for her family so baby can be looked after by grandmother, but I'm sure she wouldn't have wanted to leave him with anyone else (no matter how qualified or experienced).