By Mel Hackney

Many people have come across childcare vouchers in their employment – essentially, this is where an employer can ‘award’ vouchers which are paid tax and NIC free.

However, HMRC have been intending on abolishing this scheme for some time, recognising the lack of equality between employed and self-employed individuals in this area, and the old childcare voucher scheme is now closed to those who were not in it already.

The alternative to this is called ‘Tax Free Childcare’ and is in theory much simpler to administer than the old childcare voucher scheme.

You can get up to £500 every 3 months (£2,000 a year) for each of your children to help with the costs of childcare. The government will pay £2 for every £8 you pay your childcare provider via an online account, which you can use it to pay for approved childcare.

In addition, you can get Tax Free Childcare at the same time as 30 hours free childcare if you’re eligible for both.

To find out more information and for help with any advice in this area, including whether to stick with an existing voucher scheme which you are part of, or to move on to Tax Free Childcare, please contact us!