Childcare Vouchers vs Tax Free Credit

Hi all,

Completely confused what to go for here! I'm in a fortunate position where both our employers offer childcare vouchers.

Every calculator says to go for childcare vouchers but I'm confused as TFC seems to be the better option so I'm obviously missing something

Our childcare is £933 per month which is £11,196 per year (gulp).

Using vouchers we will both receive the maximum of £243 per month salary sacrifice which equates to £77.76 saved each totalling savings of £155.52 total per month £1,866.24 per year. Great.

However, from what I've read, TFC gives you £2 for every £8 you spend up to £2,000. So surely a saving of £2,000 per year is better than £1,866.24 per year. Am I missing something?

You have to both be working to get the tax free childcare.  So if at any point you don't think one of you will be in work, the vouchers are better.  Plus there are income limits on tax free childcare, etc.

Put it this way, the government NEVER replaces a program with a better one.   

So for the sake of £10 per month saving it might be worth to have that voucher safety net as you cannot go to vouchers once on TFC

Yeah, exactly.  Once out of the voucher scheme - there's no going back.  So if one of you is out of work at some point - there's no savings.

I really hope I'm in a job by April so I can continue the vouchers!