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childcare voluchers

Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2013 9:43 am
by d2001
Hi All,

Does anyone know if we can use childcare vouchers for payment of independent school fees. I think they can be used for after school clubs but most clubs dont accept them....

I dont want to be paying into the childcare voucher scheme and not benefit.... ie no where to use them,,,,

cheers
DP

Re: childcare voluchers

Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2013 10:32 am
by Samlet
I was able to use them until my child was 5 and thereafter for after-school clubs - but about 2 or 3 years ago they told me that on accountant's advice they could no longer take them for clubs. So I would check with the school first.

Re: childcare voluchers

Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2013 11:19 am
by Kingfisher
No. They cannot be used to pay for compulsory education. They can pay for after school care though but I think the provider needs to be registered with Ofsted.

Re: childcare voluchers

Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2013 12:31 pm
by Okanagan
They can also be used for things like unaccompanied PGL trips, which seem to also be counted as "childcare".

Re: childcare voluchers

Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2013 1:16 pm
by Amber
Kingfisher wrote:No. They cannot be used to pay for compulsory education. They can pay for after school care though but I think the provider needs to be registered with Ofsted.
Compulsory education starts in this country when a child is 5 years plus one term. If your child is starting school before that, you can use them towards fees. As almost all children do start school when they are 4, you can use them then so long as it's a registered provider.

Re: childcare voluchers

Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2013 2:16 pm
by Samlet
Which is exactly what I did - in fact I took the full amount and overpaid my bill every term, so that by the time she was 5 and I couldn't claim for the education any more I had actually already paid for the next term's fees (IYSWIM).

Re: childcare voluchers

Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2013 4:10 pm
by modernista
My DD went to a full time nursery for years 1 and 2 . They were registered to go up to year 6 (but didn't because of lack of uptake). Both DH and I used CC vouchers for it.

Re: childcare voluchers

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 9:41 am
by P's mum
You can also use them for boarding school fees - or certainly could my entitlement ended 12 months ago but I used them for this until then. The school seemed to quite au fait with this. I thought it a very good deal.

Re: childcare voluchers

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 10:24 am
by silverysea
Were they put towards the boarding charges rather than the fees?

Re: childcare voluchers

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 12:19 pm
by d2001
Thanks for replying everyone. I was specifically interested in secondary school. seems we cant use vouchers to pay for the main fees, just boarding, after school clubs and extra curricular activities.