UK teachers miss out on thousands of pounds in benefits

  • Early Years Vouchers Ltd highlights low take-up of childcare vouchers by teaching professionals
  • Working Mums and Dads in profession entitled to Tax and N.I. savings of almost £2,000 per year
  • Award-winning Foundation School – Ysgol Uwchradd Eirias – signs up to voucher scheme
Manchester, UK – 30 April, 2009 – Early Years Vouchers Ltd, one of the UK's leading childcare allowance organisations, has highlighted a very low take-up of Tax and N.I.-free childcare vouchers by individuals in the teaching profession. Sign-ons in many other industries, including the media and food manufacturers, have doubled and even tripled in recent months. This indicates that there is a lack of knowledge amongst teachers about the vouchers – which can save almost £2,000 per year to pay towards nurseries, childminders, after-school clubs and other forms of childcare.

Any teacher who has a child up to the age of 15 years old is entitled to save Tax and National Insurance on £243 of their gross salary each month. In April 2005, every working parent became eligible to claim, however at that time, the teaching profession was exempt. The National Union of Teachers (NUT) campaigned to have the law changed and in June 2006 teachers were no longer the only profession unable to adopt childcare vouchers.

Amanda Ward, Director of Early Years Vouchers Ltd, said: "According to The Daycare Trust, childcare costs rose 5 per cent nationally last year – almost 3 per cent above the rate of inflation. The average cost of a childminder or nanny currently stands at around £167 per week and unfortunately this is a cost that many parents have to bear. Calculate this by weeks in a year and the number of years you'll need childcare and you could be looking at a five-figure sum. We are all aware that 2009 is going to be a financially difficult year and everyone is doing their best to reduce their outgoings – whether its through supermarket coupons or by changing their gas supplier – and, in the past 12 months alone, the number of companies signing on to childcare vouchers has increased five-fold.

"Although teachers were initially exempt from using vouchers, the ruling was reversed over two and a half years ago – yet few have since signed-up anywhere in the UK. This points towards widespread confusion about what benefits they are legally entitled to. More certainly needs to be done to educate the industry," Amanda Ward concluded.

Ysgol Uwchradd Eirias is an award-winning Foundation School, which teaches 1500 pupils aged 11-18 in North Wales. This year, the school's Business Manager, Gwyn Jones, decided to implement a childcare vouchers scheme after a number of new employees requested to carry on making significant savings at Ysgol Uwchradd Eirias.

Gwyn Jones said: "Offering childcare vouchers has enabled us to provide real cash benefits to our hard-working Mums and Dads, which can help contribute to a better work/life balance."

For the full case study, which looks at the implementation of childcare vouchers at Ysgol Uwchradd Eirias, please call Caroline Addy on 01780 721 433 or email her at caddy@pressoffice.targetwire.com

About Early Years Vouchers Ltd:
Early Years Vouchers Ltd is one of the UK's leading childcare voucher companies. Founded in 2004, the company operates one of the UK's most advanced fully functional online childcare voucher systems for parents, carers and employers of any size – from large nationwide organisations with many thousands of employees to small companies with just two or three. The scheme enables each parent to achieve significant cost savings for the 2008-2009 tax year of up to £903.96 per year for a 20% tax payer and £1,195.56 per year for a 40% tax payer. Additional information is available at www.childcare-vouchers.net or contact:

Amanda Ward
Director
Early Years Vouchers Ltd
Tel: 0845 0945 804
Email: amanda.ward@childcare-vouchers.net

Caroline Addy
The PressOffice – PR for Early Years Vouchers Ltd
Tel: 01780 721433
Email: caddy@pressoffice.targetwire.com

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