Financial help with childcare

[warpig3]

What assistance do the government give toward financial help with child care? Is it a percentage toward the weekly/monthly cost?

We are in receipt of child tax credits at the moment and I am not currently working. If I return to work our joint salaries wil be in the region of 50K which will not affect the amount of tax credit we receive.

Many thanks
warpig

[redcrx]

im not sure warpig but will hopefully find out later when i call to renew mine.

Does your hubbys employer off child care vouchers? ive also looked into these. basically the employer buys the voucher and pays an 8% surcharge. Then the employee buys them at face value but out of gross salary so they save tax and NI (about 25%. the employer then saves on the NI theyd pay against wages so they dont lose out.

[natalie_1982]

Hi warpig, I put in a test application on the website and it looks like I would be entitled to an extra �40-50 per week when I return to work; our joint household incoe will be in the region of �36K and childcare will be �150 p/w. My hubby and I work for the same place and both qualify for childcare vouchers, which we would be much better off claiming for. If you claim for childcare vouchers then it affects how much you recieve in tax credits.

Have a play on this and see if it helps:
http://www.entitledto.co.uk/

[warpig3]

Cheers girls, I have never heard of vouchers before, but then again I have never been in this situation before. Was just wondering if something was available as otherwise when I do go back to work most of my wages will go on childcare.

Thanks for the link Nat I will have a look around.

[natalie_1982]

I'm sure you probably have a nursery in mind anyway, but as an extra point; the Co-Operative run the childcare scheme at my work (Imagine... childcare) and they also run the nursery that I will be using which entitles me to a further 10 or 20% discount. Their nurseries also provide nappies and formula / organic freshly prepared food, which is something that the other nurseries I viewed didn't do where you had to provide wipes, nappies, snacks and lunch yourself. When you think how much nappies and food / formula costs for the time they spend at nursery that could work out to be a full day or two's worth of childcare per month.

[warpig3]

To be honest Nat, I haven't really looked into it properly as my mum said she would look after the piglet. But while I was home last time, my mum was absolutely knackered and I am not sure if she will be up to it (no matter what she says).

There is the possiblity of me going part time as some point after I return to work which would not be a problem and would suit both my mum and I but I am just trying to find the best possible arrangement for the piglet and for us financially.

�150 a week of nursey care, I hadnt realised it was so expensive. I had better get my skates on and do some investigating!

[redcrx]

i pay �15 for 5 hours with little CRX.

The baby section is �32 a day here. I know with the toddlers food is provided but not sure about babies.

heres the info on the vouchers. Im setting it up at work soon as it will help me now ive found im out of tax credit bands now

[warpig3]

I guess its more for babies as they need more carers per number of children.

Brilliant link Nat, just been in there and had a play around, its quite enlightening the differences in benefits depending on your 'situation'! Is definitely food for thought!

[natalie_1982]

I'm in a similar situ to you WP, and that's why I found the link useful - if I could afford to less hours, I would probably qualify for more in tax credits and would be spending less at child care. Unfortunately I <have to go back for 12weeks under the terms of my contract or i have to pay back my maternity pay, but once those 3months are up I hope to go part time. I have already condensed my hours into a four day week but it means I won't get to see Emilia very much over those four days as I will be working from 8:30 - 6 and she will be at nursery from 8-4 :-(

Our nursery charges �35 for a full day (8-4).