Childcare Vouchers/Salary Sacrifice

The Childcare Voucher Scheme enables you to take part of your salary in childcare vouchers in either a paper or e-voucher format.

You do not pay Income Tax or National Insurance contributions on the part of the salary you take in vouchers, which produces a significant saving.  Both parents are eligible to claim for the vouchers as long as you are both in employment.

Basic-rate taxpayer can save up to £962 per year, whilst a higher-rate taxpayer can save up to £1,196 per year. The amount of vouchers you can claim with the above tax relief is £243 per calendar month.

Operated through a salary sacrifice scheme, the employer will also save national insurance contributions, currently at 12.8% of the value of the vouchers provided. 

To start using Childcare Vouchers you need to establish whether or not your company is associated with one of the current established providers. If they are, the procedures for joining the scheme will already be clearly established. If not, you might like to see if your employer will introduce such a scheme as part of their benefit package.