Use Childcare Vouchers to Offset the Loss of Child Benefit

In this year’s budget, Chancellor George Osborne cut child benefit for higher rate taxpayers. Child Benefit will be reduced gradually by 1% for every £100 earned over £50,000. Anyone earning over £60,000 will lose the benefit completely from January 2013.

In households where one parent earns over £60,000, the loss of child benefit can be offset by ensuring that working parents take advantage of childcare vouchers. For the eldest or only child, child benefit amounts to over £1,000 a year. Higher rate taxpayers taking childcare vouchers can save up to £624 per year on childcare costs by using childcare vouchers to pay for their registered childcare. If the other parent works and is a basic rate taxpayer, they can also save up to £933 per year.

John Woodward, managing director of Busy Bees Benefits, said “The announcement about cuts to Child Benefit is naturally a blow to some families, but childcare vouchers are the obvious way to offset this financial loss. As part of the Busy Bees Group, the largest childcare provider in the UK, Busy Bees Benefits understands the financial pressures experienced by all working families and welcomes the opportunity to help more parents to save money on the cost of childcare”.

Local College Helps Parents Save on Childcare Costs

There’s no doubt that working families are finding money tighter in the face of current economic pressures, but one major local employer is helping parents with the cost of childcare. Bury College teamed up with Busy Bees Benefits a year ago to provide childcare vouchers to its employees and 30 parents who work at the college have signed up to the scheme in that time.

Childcare vouchers are a simple way that working parents can save on the cost of childcare. It’s just a matter of swapping a part of their salary for childcare vouchers, which are non-taxable and exempt from National Insurance contributions. This can save  working parents over £900 each year, depending on their individual circumstances. And although the majority of parents use vouchers for childcare for pre school children, be it a nursery, nanny, au pair, or childminder, vouchers can also be used for older children to pay for things like out of school clubs and activity camps.

David Aspa, HR & Payroll Advisor at Bury College says: “As a family friendly employer we are always looking at ways to improve the benefits we provide to our employees.  For working parents, childcare vouchers are an excellent way of doing this.  The Busy Bees Benefits scheme was easy to set up and provides the College and our employees with an efficient yet simple to use system.”

Sally McCullagh, Curriculum Director at Bury College says: “Signing up with Busy Bees Benefits was straight forward and your individual account is easy to manage.  In addition to helping lower the cost of childcare, the system also reduces the time spent arranging payments to your childcare provider as this is all done automatically.”

John Woodward, managing director of Busy Bees Benefits, added: “It is fantastic to be working with Bury College. In these current difficult economic times, any assistance we can provide for working parents towards their childcare costs is very welcome.”

Any parent can use childcare vouchers if their workplace is part of the scheme, so it’s definitely worth checking if your local employer offers childcare vouchers or asking them to join the scheme. There is no set up cost for businesses and they will save on employer National Insurance contributions too. For further information, parents and businesses can

Busy Bees Benefits is part of the Busy Bees Group, the UK’s largest childcare provider. Its Childcare Voucher scheme helps working parents to save money on childcare and their employers can offer this valuable benefit at no cost to the organisation. Parents can also receive an additional discount if they use a Busy Bees Voucher at a Busy Bees nursery. The company also offers Employment Law Support, Car Care, Cycle to Work schemes, and services including ticketing and hospitality and will writing.

For further information, please visit www.busybeesbenefits.com.

Childcare Voucher Provider Joins Industry Body

Business and Employee benefits provider Busy Bees Benefits has become the latest member of the Childcare Voucher Providers Association (CVPA).

The CVPA represents the Childcare Vouchers market, develops best practice guidelines for those operating within it and protects those who have involvement with a provider. Founded in March 2011, it also promotes Childcare Vouchers Schemes to employers, employees and carers as well as evaluating unresolved complaints made against their members.

John Woodward, managing director of Busy Bees Benefits, said: “We are proud of the manner in which we operate and want our customers, and indeed any prospective customers, to know that we are serious about providing a quality, transparent service, which includes, in particular, keeping voucher funds safe and managing personal data appropriately.

“Our membership of the CVPA allows us to show the employers who operate our scheme, the employees who request our Childcare Vouchers and the carers who accept them that we are proud of what we do and that we are committed to a Code of Practice. We also want to play a key role in developing the market further, as Busy Bees Group was part of the initial discussions when our first Childcare Voucher scheme was established in 1998.”

Busy Bees Benefits was established to provide a quality Childcare Voucher scheme which helps working parents to save money on childcare and offers their employers a valuable benefit that has no cost to their organisation.

Alongside its Childcare Voucher scheme, Busy Bees Benefits offers other employee and business benefits. These include Cycle to Work, Car Care and Employment Law Support schemes, with a ticketing and hospitality service coming soon. Busy Bees Group is the largest private childcare provider in the UK, operating more than 130 nurseries, with the brand well known for the quality of service it provides.

For further information on Busy Bees Benefits, please visit http://www.busybeesbenefits.com/ or like us at www.facebook.com/busybeesbenefits. For more details on CVPA, please visit www.cvpa.org.uk.