Childcare voucher scheme

[Dippy1]

Hi I am newly registered childminder August last year. I have been following the boards for about a year and must say what a great help this site has been or me.

I got my first mindee this week started Monday and came out of the blue suddenly. I have been asked if I will accept childcare vouchers and have said yes could someone please tell me how you become registered to use them. The parent is just signing in the process of signing up with Faircare. Any info on the scheme would be a great help.

Thanks

[loocyloo]

the parent should give you some information about the voucher company, or she will pass your contact details to the voucher company and they will send you a form to fill in.

its usually pretty basic with name/address etc, ofsted number ( and they will want a copy of your certificate to 'prove' it ) and then bank details so they can pay you direct. i always ask to paid direct by bank transfer, rather than the parent give you paper vouchers and you having to redeem them. ( mind you, i haven't had any for a long time, so i don't know if people still use paper vouchers! )

my current voucher company send me an email to say parent has made a payment and when the £ will be in my bank account. and then, i think :blush:, an email to tell me it has been sent.

if you want to hurry things up a bit, ask mum for the contact details and give them a call yourself. mum may have a reference number so that your account can be linked with hers.

i am registered with 6 or 7 different vouchers company and 99% of the time, everything works really well. just sometimes takes a while for parent to work out how early they have to 'pay' the voucher company, in order for them to pay you by your fees due date! i have one mum who, by agreement, pays a day later than everyone else, just because her voucher company seem to need that extra day!

parents can use to £243 a month each of tax free earnings to pay for childcare using the schemes. if the fees are over this amount a month, ensure mum knows it is her responsibility to pay you the rest on time!

hope this helps

[silvermist]

Hiya, its really easy to sort out. One of my los mums asked if Id accept them, I said yes. She did all the paperwork and I got a letter in the post saying she had requested that I join the scheme. I literally had to give them my bank details and hey presto it was sorted. They also sent me a pike of leaflets to give out to other parents. Just a thought but I have agreed to electronic vouchers only, all my parents pay online anyway so its just easier for me that way.

Hope that helps xx

[Dippy1]

Thanks for that. It sounds pretty straight forward so shouldn't have any problems