Childcare Vouchers

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From April 2005 all parent employers of nanny's regardless of income were able to take advantage of the Employer Supported Childcare Voucher Scheme. The scheme offers attractive tax relief to parents giving a substantial saving on childcare costs.

Childcare vouchers are simply another way of paying your nanny. As an employer of a nanny you and/or your partner are able to earn £55 per week deduction free as long as that money is used for childcare.

There are a set of criteria that your nanny must meet before you will be able to claim the vouchers. These criteria are set and assessed by Ofsted and your nanny will need to be registered with Ofsted before you can claim the vouchers.

They will be looking to verify:

Your nanny has the skills required to be a nanny or even better a childcare qualification.
Your nanny has an up to date and valid paediatric first-aid certificate.
Your nanny has an up to date public liability insurance policy.
Your nanny can pass an Enhanced CRB check which will need to be carried out as part of her registration process regardless of if she already has one.

Once set up, the process is fairly simple to run. Your employer deducts at source part of your income which is then turned into vouchers. These vouchers are usually sent directly to you and are then used to pay an amount of your nanny's net wage.

To start the process of claiming the vouchers DomesticPaye suggests your first step should be towards your own HR department of your own employer. This is because the vouchers have to be employer supported i.e your employer has to offer them as part of their package of benefits to you. If they do not offer the vouchers then you will not be able to claim them.

Once you have ascertained you can claim the vouchers and assuming you feel you nanny will meet the Ofsted criteria you should ask your nanny to contact the Ofsted website where she will be able to go through the registration process. Alternatively you or your nanny may wish to call the Ofsted helpline on 08456 404040 for further information.