Member Article

Plan early for the school holidays

Employee benefits experts at Edenred are urging working parents to plan ahead for the school holidays and consider the use of childcare vouchers to help address the cost of looking after their children.

Provision of holiday childcare for school-age children is often a major financial problem for families, with parents often required to either take time off work or pay for professional childcare.

With the recent Daycare Trust survey showing the childcare costs have risen above inflation, Edenred is urging families to plan ahead for the school holidays and consider the use of childcare vouchers to put towards paying for care. For some families, these vouchers offer a solution that saves nearly £1000 a year.

The age range covered by the vouchers means that parents of older children can also benefit. They can be used for children up to 15 years, or 16 years if disabled, and can be spent on a wide range of activities such as afterschool clubs, holiday clubs and breakfast clubs, as well as nurseries, childminders and nannies for younger children.

Childcare vouchers are usually offered via a salary sacrifice scheme which means the costs are taken from a parent’s pre tax salary and, depending on the rate of tax payer, are free from tax and National Insurance up to £243 a month.

Laura Czapiewski, product manager at Edenred, comments:

“The high cost of childcare is a major issue for families and over 90 per cent of parents surveyed on behalf of Edenred and other industry stakeholders are concerned about it.

“Nearly five per cent of respondents said they would be forced to leave work due to the cost of childcare if it wasn’t for the support offered by tax-free childcare vouchers.

“Childcare vouchers can be a vital source of support and working parents should investigate if their place of work offers childcare vouchers as part of their employee benefits package.”

Edenred created the UK’s first childcare voucher scheme in 1989. As the UK’s leading provider of childcare voucher benefits, they offer a flexible and efficient service to employers, parents and childcare providers.

Edenred has a website dedicated to childcare vouchers explaining how they work, the benefits and where to use them. See: http://www.childcarevouchers.co.uk/Parents/Pages/default.aspx

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emma Ward .