How to ensure employees make the most of childcare vouchers

Childcare voucher schemes can usually be implemented quickly and easily, with the voucher provider protecting the employer from most of the administration. 

According to Alison Chalmers, director of KiddiVouchers, the main difficulty can be in communicating the benefit to a diverse or widespread workforce, so employers need to check that their chosen voucher provider can offer plenty of marketing materials, ideally in a range of formats.

Many suppliers will help market voucher schemes to employees in your organisation with packages that may include the following:

• Information pack.
  
• Information leaflet.
  
• Payslip attachment.
  
• Posters.
  
• Table-top advertiser.
  
• Intranet advice.

Through these information channels, the benefits of the scheme can be outlined by highlighting the savings.

Chalmers adds that the interaction between childcare vouchers and other benefits such as tax credits, national minimum wage and statutory maternity pay can cause issues for employers. 

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

Email(Required)

OptOut

From time to time, we will send you emails about selected products, events and services from Personnel Today and OHW+ - but you can choose to opt-out at any time. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please tick this box.

Name

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Δ

“Childcare voucher providers can normally offer guidance to employers and to employees to help with these issues, and some offer additional calculations or pre-registration screening,” she says.