Webinar – The Future of Childcare Vouchers

(Previously published 18 December 2017, updated 23 January 2018)

Legal-Island hosted a webinar on the Future of Childcare Vouchers and implications for employers on January 22 2018, with our Senior Family Benefits Advisor Chris Briggs being interviewed on all things Childcare Voucher related. Details and link to listen to the webinar recording are below.

A Petition calling on the Government to keep Childcare Vouchers open to new entrants has received over 116,000 signatures from across the UK. As a result, a Parliamentary Debate took place on Monday 15 January 2018 to discuss this and provide an opportunity for MPs to put concerns to the Government. The Debate and next steps are summarised in our article: Parliamentary Debate on the future of Childcare Vouchers.

The potential closure of the Childcare Vouchers scheme to new entrants, alongside the introduction of Tax-Free Childcare and roll out of Universal Credit in Northern Ireland, marks a big change to the landscape of financial support available to help parents with childcare costs. 

If the Childcare Voucher scheme is to be closed to new entrants from April 2018, employers must set up their schemes now if they want to ensure that their employees can sign up and benefit from Childcare Vouchers. Employers who are already offering Childcare Vouchers may need to review their contracts of employment, staff handbooks or terms and conditions to ensure that these are accurate and up to date.

Chris Briggs, Senior Family Benefits Advisor at Employers For Childcare discussed all things Childcare Voucher related on 22nd January. In this 30-minute interview with Claire Marley, L&D Services Officer at Legal-Island, Chris answered questions like:

• What is replacing the Childcare Voucher scheme?
• What do I have to do to offer my employees the new scheme?
• Can I continue to offer the Childcare Voucher scheme after April 2018?
• What if I have staff who are currently on maternity / paternity / shared parental leave and are not due back to work until after April 2018?
• I will have some staff who are able to access the scheme, and some who will be unable to access the scheme, is there a risk of perceived discrimination and will I need to change any procedures?
• Will I continue to make the employer savings?

Click here to download the webinar slides. Transcript to follow.

If you have any queries about this please get in touch for free, confidential and impartial advice – either as an employer, staff member working in HR or payroll, or as a working parent yourself.

This webinar was kindly hosted by Legal-Island – to listen to more of their webinars visit their website.