A Parents Guide to Childcare Vouchers

You will be entitled to childcare vouchers if you are a parent or have parental responsibility for a child living with you. The vouchers can be used until the 1st September following your childs 15th birthday, or if your child is disabled, up to 1st September following their 16th birthday. Use our savings calculator to give you an illustration of the likely savings you could make by using childcare vouchers to pay for your childcare.

  • Basic rate taxpayers using the monthly maxmium (£243) of childcare vouchers to pay for their childcare can save up to £962 per annum. For higher rate taxpayers savings of up to £1196 per annum are possible.
  • This equates to a massive saving of £2392 per annum if both parents were higher rate tax payers and used their full allowance of childcare vouchers to pay for their childcare.

Availability of Childcare Vouchers. Your employer will need to operate a childcare voucher scheme to be able to provide you with childcare vouchers. If you employer does not operate a scheme ask them to read our employers guide to childcare vouchers and consult our childcare voucher providers matrix to see a list of scheme providers. Remember, both you and your employer will save money using childcare vouchers.

Types of Childcare. You can use childcare vouchers to pay for all different types of childcare provided by, but not limited to, nurseries, pre-school, playgroups, child minders, holiday play-schemes, after school clubs (operated by the school orlocal authority), nannies and au-pairs.

Registered or Approved Childcare. You will only be able to use childcare vouchers to pay for your childcare if your provider is registered or approved. You can check their status by contacting one of the following governing bodies applicable to your region:

  • England - OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education) - 0845 601 4771
  • England - Childcare Approval Scheme - 0845 767 8111
  • England & Wales - Over 7s Quality Assurance Scheme
  • Wales - CSIW (Care Standards Inspectorate for Wales) 01443 848450
  • Scotland - The Care Commission 01382 207 200
  • Northern Ireland - Contact the children's centre in your local Health & Social Services Trust.

If you are looking for a childcare provider in your area, visit Nurserysearch With over 11,000 childcare providers listed on their website we are confident you will find a provider!

Accepting Childcare Vouchers. When you join your employers childcare voucher scheme you will be asked to provide the details of your childcare provider. This will enable the scheme administrator to find out if your childcare provider accepts their vouchers. (You may like to check with your childcare provider to ask if they accept the childcare vouchers provided by your employer prior to joining the scheme.) In the unlikely event that your childcare provider is unfamiliar with your vouchers, all they need to do is complete a simple registration form to enable them to accept your vouchers. (In this case the scheme administrator will contact your childcare provider directly.)

Using Childcare Vouchers. Your childcare provider will expect payment as usual. You should therefore ensure that your vouchers reach them at the same time as you would normally expect to pay for your childcare. Childcare vouchers are flexible to enable you to setup regular, ad hoc or one off payments. If you prefer to use paper vouchers you will simple need to print them off from your online account or request the vouchers from your provider up to the balance of your account.