Probably not, but certainly they have hit a bit of a pot-hole. Why? The latest change in maternity rules - which extend employment benefits across the full period of possible maternity leave 12 months and not just 'the ordinary period' of six months will significantly increase the cost of supplying vouchers for employers.
This is because HMRC has made clear that salary sacrifice is a permanent change in the employment contract - an agreement to a lower salary plus child-care vouchers. If the salary isn't there, the childcare vouchers still are. It isn't salary minus a deduction for the vouchers. So the additional cost for employers who offer vouchers up to the tax free limit of about £50 a week could be around £1,300 each time an employee continues to want to receive them during a period of additional maternity leave.
This change - effective for women whose babies are due to be born after 5th October - will certainly erode the win-win benefit that everyone used to think childcare vouchers offered when the tax benefits were introduced. Some employers, at least, may want a bit more persuading that they are a good thing.
For more information about childcare vouchers or to have a chat about how the extensions in maternity entitlements from October will affect you, please contact Lynne on
lynne@hradvantage.co.uk or phone 01494 451681.
