Answers · UK 2025/26

What happened to childcare vouchers -- are they still available?

Employer childcare voucher schemes closed to new applicants on 4 October 2018, replaced by Tax-Free Childcare. If you joined before that date and have stayed continuously with the same employer, you can keep using vouchers -- but you cannot rejoin after leaving, and switching to Tax-Free Childcare permanently ends your voucher eligibility.

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Childcare vouchers were, until 2018, a popular salary sacrifice benefit letting parents pay for registered childcare using pre-tax and pre-NI salary. The scheme has since been replaced for new claimants, but a shrinking group of existing users can still benefit. **Closure to new applicants: 4 October 2018** Since this date, no new parent can join an employer childcare voucher scheme, regardless of their employer offering one. The scheme was replaced by Tax-Free Childcare, a different government scheme run directly through a government online childcare account rather than through an employer. **Who can still use vouchers** If you joined a childcare voucher scheme before 4 October 2018 and have remained continuously employed by the same employer (making at least one salary sacrifice election in every rolling 52-week period), you can continue to receive vouchers indefinitely, for as long as your employer continues to offer the scheme and you have an eligible child. **Eligibility conditions to continue** - A child under 16 (or under 17 if the child is disabled) - At least one salary sacrifice into the voucher scheme in each 52-week period (a gap longer than this, such as an extended unpaid leave period, can break continuity and end eligibility) - You must not switch to claiming Tax-Free Childcare, which permanently closes voucher eligibility **Losing voucher eligibility** If you change employer, you lose access to childcare vouchers entirely -- your new employer cannot enrol you, even if they operate a voucher scheme for other, longer-serving staff, because you count as a "new joiner" to that employer's scheme after October 2018. **Tax savings under the old voucher scheme** Basic-rate taxpayers who joined before April 2011 (or who were basic-rate at the time they joined) can sacrifice up to £55/week (£243/month) tax and NI-free. Higher and additional-rate taxpayers who joined the scheme are capped at lower limits (£28/week for higher rate, £25/week for additional rate) under rules introduced from April 2011 to stop the benefit disproportionately favouring higher earners. **Vouchers vs Tax-Free Childcare -- which is better?** For most current parents, Tax-Free Childcare (worth up to £2,000/year per child, or £4,000 for a disabled child, funded as a 25% government top-up on money paid into a childcare account) is usually more generous than the old voucher cap, particularly for parents with more than one child or higher childcare costs. However, some existing voucher users with modest childcare costs and a lower-earning spouse can still find vouchers marginally better in specific circumstances -- always compare both using a calculator before switching, since the switch to Tax-Free Childcare cannot be reversed.