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in April 2018, the Government Childcare Voucher Scheme<\/a> extended its joining-date deadline for new members by another six months.<\/p>\n The initiative, which allows parents to save up to \u00a3933 a year on childcare, was supposed to be closed to new members in April 2018, making way for last year’s newly launched “Tax-Free Childcare”<\/strong><\/em> scheme.<\/p>\n The good news is that the current Childcare Voucher Scheme is available until 4th October 2018. After this date, employees will no longer be able to join this scheme.<\/p>\n The bad news is there is just one month until the old scheme will be closed, so I would recommend that small businesses encourage employees to join this scheme RIGHT NOW!<\/p>\n If you or your employees are members of the current Childcare Voucher Scheme, then you need to be aware of the changes from 4 October 2018.<\/p>\n You can take up to \u00a355 a week of your wages as childcare vouchers, which you do not pay tax or National Insurance on. The amount of vouchers available depends on how much you earn and when you joined the scheme.<\/p>\n There is no deadline for using vouchers, you can continue to use any vouchers you already have, and can make a joint payment for childcare with \u2018Tax-Free Childcare.\u2019<\/p>\n You can get up to \u00a3500 every three months (\u00a32,000 a year) for each of your children to help with the costs of childcare. The government will pay \u00a32 for every \u00a38 you pay your childcare provider via a \u2018Tax-Free Childcare<\/a>\u2019 online account.<\/p>\n You can use it to pay for approved childcare and – if you\u2019re eligible for both – can receive both \u2018Tax-Free Childcare\u2019 and 30 hours free childcare.<\/p>\n Your eligibility for Tax-Free Childcare is dependent on the following criteria for:<\/p>\n If you successfully apply for \u2018Tax-Free Childcare\u2019 you cannot continue to claim childcare vouchers.<\/p>\n Employees must notify their employers of changes within 90 days.<\/p>\n If your employees stay on the old Childcare Voucher scheme, this will be better for you in terms of tax breaks as it allows you to reduce the amount of NI and tax you pay, but the new Tax-Free Childcare scheme will not. Therefore, you really should be encouraging working parents on your team to sign up before 4th October 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n On the current voucher scheme, both employer and employee pay less in NI and tax contributions, so this scheme will benefit you both \u2013 so if you have employees with children it is a good idea to make them aware of this scheme as soon as possible if they don\u2019t already know about it so that they can take advantage.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, with the new scheme, employers are not able to claim anything back if an employee opts-in to it, but it would be good practice to make sure that your employee is also aware of the new scheme as an option as there are benefits that might suit them better. For example, for any single parents, other family members are also able to opt in for that child.<\/p>\n Make sure you get your employees to use this great employee benefit.<\/a><\/p>\n Still confused?<\/strong>\u00a0Give me a call<\/a> and we can talk you through the current Childcare Voucher Scheme and the new Tax-Free Childcare.\u00a0<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Posts Footer Section” _builder_version=”3.24″ global_module=”3751″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_blurb title=”Don\u2019t keep it a secret” use_icon=”on” font_icon=”%%83%%” icon_color=”#ffffff” icon_placement=”left” use_icon_font_size=”on” icon_font_size=”104px” admin_label=”Don\u2019t keep it a secret” _builder_version=”3.24″ header_font=”||||||||” header_font_size=”44px” header_line_height=”1.1em” background_color=”#97026d” text_orientation=”center” background_layout=”dark” custom_margin=”||2px” custom_padding=”25px||25px”]<\/p>\n Did you find this blog useful? Think you have fellow business owners that would too? \u00a0Feel free to share or \u2018like\u2019 using social media buttons to the left.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_cta title=”Sign up to my blog” button_url=”https:\/\/blog.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk” button_text=”Sign Up” admin_label=”Sign up to blog” _builder_version=”3.24″ header_font=”||||||||” header_text_color=”#97026d” header_font_size=”49px” body_font=”||||||||” body_text_color=”#97026d” body_font_size=”20px” background_color=”#a2bdf2″ global_module=”4481″]<\/p>\n Did you enjoy reading this blog?\u00a0 if so please sign up so you can receive them directly to your inbox each week … keep your FOMO in check.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_cta][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Government Childcare Voucher scheme had its deadline to join extended for new members back in April 2018 by another six months. Click the link for more info<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":" The Government Childcare Voucher scheme<\/a> had its deadline to join extended for new members back in April 2018 by another six months.<\/p> The initiative, which means parents can save up to \u00a3933 a year on childcare, was supposed to be closed to new members in April 2018 making way for Tax-Free Childcare, another scheme that was launched last year, but it is now available for employees until 4th<\/sup> October 2018, but then employees will no longer be able to join this scheme.<\/p> So, that means that there is just one month until the old scheme will be closed, so I would recommend that small businesses encourage employees to join this scheme NOW!<\/p> If you or your employees are members of the Childcare Voucher Scheme, then you need to be aware of the changes from 4 October 2018.<\/p> In summary:<\/p> \u00a0<\/p> What is the existing Childcare Voucher Scheme?<\/strong><\/p> You can take up to \u00a355 a week of your wages as childcare vouchers, which you do not pay tax or National Insurance on. The amount of vouchers available depends on how much you earn and when you joined the scheme.<\/p> There is no deadline for using vouchers, you can continue to use any vouchers you already have, and can make a joint payment for childcare with \u2018Tax-Free Childcare.\u2019<\/p> \u00a0<\/p> What is \u2018Tax-Free Childcare\u2019?<\/strong><\/p> You can get up to \u00a3500 every three months (\u00a32,000 a year) for each of your children to help with the costs of childcare. The government will pay \u00a32 for every \u00a38 you pay your childcare provider via a \u2018Tax-free Childcare<\/a>\u2019 online account.<\/p> You can use it to pay for approved childcare. You can get both \u2018Tax-Free Childcare\u2019 and 30 hours free childcare if you\u2019re eligible for both.<\/p> Your eligibility for Tax-Free Childcare is dependent on the following criteria for:<\/p> If you successfully apply for \u2018Tax-Free Childcare\u2019 you cannot continue to claim childcare vouchers.<\/p> Employees must tell their employers within 90 days.<\/p> \u00a0<\/p> The reason to encourage your employees to take this up now!<\/strong><\/p> If your employees stay on the old Childcare Voucher scheme, this will be better for you in terms of tax breaks as it allows you to reduce the amount of NI and tax you pay, but the new Tax-Free Childcare scheme will not.<\/p> On the current voucher scheme, both employer and employee pays less in NI and tax contributions, so this scheme will benefit you both \u2013 so if you have employees with children it is a good idea to make them aware of this scheme as soon as possible if they don\u2019t already know about it so that they can take advantage.<\/p> Unfortunately, with the new scheme, employers are not able to claim anything back if an employee opts-in to it, but it would be good practice to make sure that your employee is also aware of the new scheme as an option as there are benefits that might suit them better. For example, for any single parents, other family members are also able to opt in for that child.<\/p>Summary Of Changes To The Childcare Voucher Scheme:<\/h2>\n
\n
What Is The Existing Childcare Voucher Scheme?<\/h2>\n
What is \u2018Tax-Free Childcare\u2019?<\/h2>\n
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Why Your Employees Should Sign-Up For Childcare Voucher Scheme Today!<\/h2>\n