Childcare vouchers

[eddie]

I may have dreamt this up but did the government say they were going to stop the tax breaks parents receive from using childcare voucher schemes? I thought they were using the money to pay for 2 yr old funding or something?

It's just that if the parents are getting no benefits I am going to stop accepting vouchers due to the various problems I am having.

[hectors house]

Sorry I don't know - there was a new scheme mentioned in the budget, not sure if childcare vouchers are being phased out or if it is just that new parents can't join. I'm not very good keeping up to date and it all just went over my head!

[sarah707]

Doesn't it start in 2015 or something?

Note to self - engage brain when reading news

[Loushah]

The key points regarding what the policy will mean for working parents are as follows:

Childcare Vouchers will continue to be available via employers and will be unchanged in their current format until 2015, and thereafter will only be available for existing users. Once the new Government Tax-Free Childcare Scheme is in place in autumn 2015, (the exact implementation date is yet to be confirmed), parents who are already taking Childcare Vouchers through their employer will have the choice either to remain in the current scheme, or depending on their individual circumstances, switch to the new government scheme (they will not be able to have both). Parents will not be able to join the Employer Childcare Voucher scheme after the launch of the new Government Tax-Free Childcare in autumn 2015. Government Tax-Free Childcare will be available to households where both parents work for more than 16 hours per week, and each individual earns less than £150,000 per year. Single parents must also be working to qualify for the scheme.

What will this mean for Childcare Providers?

Under the new Government Tax-Free Childcare Scheme, parents will set up an online account directly with a Voucher company, such as kidsunlimited Vouchers, who will transfer the funds to the Childcare Provider. We will provide you with further details of how this will work over the coming months. Over the longer term, this may lead to an expansion in the demand for childcare provision as the number of parents who have access to tax-free childcare increases from the current 450,000 to over 2.5million (once all stages of the new scheme have been fully implemented).

Hth