Paying childcare costs out of gross salary
Paying childcare costs out of gross salary
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princeperch

Original Poster:

8,226 posts

271 months

Wednesday 31st January 2024
quotequote all
On the parents WhatsApp group the other day someone mentioned they paid their nursery fees out of gross income using the following scheme

https://www.enjoybenefits.co.uk/staff-benefits-sav...

Obviously you have to get your employer on board to join up and they have to be willing to pay the management fee of 100 quid month. There is a minimum bill of £650 a month.

Asides from a few potential legal issues that could arise from the various financial minimum requirements that an employee must meet - what am I missing about this and why isn't everyone doing it?

You can also apparently combine it with the tax free childcare thing if you qualify to use that.

What's the catch?

ReallyReallyGood

1,641 posts

154 months

Wednesday 31st January 2024
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My employer did something similar. Requires the childcare provider to sign up to it. Some colleagues mentioned their provider refused to sign up questioning its legality but my provider was fine with it.

Saved thousands in through it

princeperch

Original Poster:

8,226 posts

271 months

Wednesday 31st January 2024
quotequote all
My first thoughts were that an employer is on the hook for this 100 quid a month come hell or high water and this will presumably keep going up.

There is also the potential for sex discrimination claims from those who work part time/don't meet the minimum childcare costs required.

If there was unfettered access to it for all I'd be saying great. But there must be quite a lot to potentially go wrong if everyone isn't signing up to it.

FamousPheasant

765 posts

140 months

Wednesday 31st January 2024
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The NHS up our way operate two nurseries, and my wife - a nurse - pays via salary sacrifice. It's a pretty massive perk for us. Although we can't combine with the top up scheme.

princeperch

Original Poster:

8,226 posts

271 months

Wednesday 31st January 2024
quotequote all
https://www.rsmuk.com/insights/employment-matters/...

Assuming this article is relevant to the scheme I've linked to earlier, it does sound a bit iffy.

Surprised a public sector employer has agreed to do it tbh

Eta the NHS employer might be genuinely either running a nursery on site or otherwise be closely involved with its running. Which is within the spirit of the scheme.

Edited by princeperch on Wednesday 31st January 16:25