Vouchers - I have some questions

[Pedagog]

Hi all, okay I have read a few comments about vouchers and there seem to be various firms around.

Can somebody explain what these vouchers are?

And how they work?

Also what are the pro's and con's of them?


Thanks in advance.

[sarah707]

An employer will offer a voucher scheme to it's employee ... it will mean the employee is better off financially as the employer pays a % of their childcare costs (through tax).

The employee will be your customer and will offer to pay you in vouchers.

You sign up with the voucher company and they pay you whatever you bill your customer, each month.

What tends to happen is you bill a regular monthly amount and the customer is liable for any extra - overtime, extra days in the month etc.

Hope this makes sense :D

[Pedagog]

Thanks for that.

[Pipsqueak]

There is a write up in Childcare Mag this month (July lol) about vouchers.

[Pedagog]

I'll have to get when I am in town later.

[miffy]

The only downside is that parents have to authorise the voucher company to pay the money into your account - it usually takes 3 or 4 working days before the money is in your bank - so you have to make sure that parents don't forget to do that.

Other than that it's a good system

miffy xx

[Pudding Girl]

And remember it's PER CALENDAR MONTH! ( not 4 weekly like I thought for last 3 payments oops, think I lost out on money now but scared to work it out!:panic: :blush: )

Aside from that, I am with Kiddivouchers.com and they havea referral scheme where you can give parents your code and if their employer signs up with them you get some cash ( not sure how much etc as not done it yet)

[Pedagog]

I have had a look at kiddivouchers website and it looks interesting, are there any other companies you would recommend looking at.

[Pudding Girl]

Yeah kiddivouchers are good ( so far! apart from some downtime this week grrr just when I needed to check things!!) I have had cause to email twice now and both times had recieved word back within an hour which I feel is pretty good ( I hate phoning people you see!!)

Other ones that are used most are Busybees and Accor - you can register for them all

[Spangles]

I'm confused now about vouchers then!

I have got a family just started with these and I did the invoice the other day to give them on Monday.

I worked out exactly what they owe me from 1st to 30th June and was going to do the same each month, i.e. from 1st to last day, so every month would be accurate but different amounts taking into account number of exact days worked, holidays, sickness, etc.

Can't I do this then?

[Lou]

i have a family that use Accor vouchers.

There is a maximum that you canhave in vouchers per month, i think its £243.00??

Anyway what id is the same as you Lorri, i work out exactly how much they owe me each month, and obviuosly it is different if there are more days in one month than another,

I do an invoice and normally its around £400 ish so i just ask them for the extra on top of the £243.

hope that makes sense.

For July i am going on holiday (have i mentioned??) and so they will owe me less than £243 but mum has said that vouchers are on a direct debit that she doesnt want to cancel so i have said just pay me that amount and then they will be slightly in credit for Aug.

I hope all that makes sense??

[Pedagog]

I have had cause to email twice now and both times had received word back within an hour which I feel is pretty good ( I hate phoning people you see!!)



Yes me too, I often put things off for days rather than phone someone.

[Pedagog]

So over all do people find them useful and effective?

[Ebs71]

There is a write up in Childcare Mag this month (July lol) about vouchers.

Where can i get this mag from? do i have to subscribe?

[Pedagog]

I got it in WH smiths today.

[miffy]

I use Accor and Busy Bees - they are both fine and I like the fact that the money goes straight into my bank account.

miffy xx

[Spangles]

Thanks Lou, I'll do what I planned then. Was just getting a bit worried after reading this thread that I was going to do something stupid but it makes sense to me! Glad it makes sense to you too! Ha ha!

I like everything to be easy and neat so this is just the way that's best for me!