The system of Childcare Vouchers was introduced so that there was a mechanism in place to ensure that the money generated through the scheme, was being directed correctly to the childcarers.
More companies are expressing an interest in setting up a child care voucher scheme. The administration for these schemes are largely handled by third party companies such as Fennies, who have years of child care experience and are ideally placed to be the common contact point for all the parties involved in the scheme.
The child care voucher scheme was introduced on April 6 2005 and has been embraced enthusiastically by many companies. As a result, the administrating companies have discovered that it may be easier for all those involved to operate the system electronically. This both speeds up the process and gives parents and child care providers particularly, more freedom and control over the scheme.
It takes time to develop a secure method of allocating vouchers and redeeming payments. Not only does the online system need to work perfectly for every user, it also needs to be user-friendly, so that busy parents and nursery managers or childminders can log on easily and carry out the required tasks. This type of development can be time-consuming, but the investment is worthwhile, because it will attract people to use the scheme and make the whole process easier in the long-run.
Instead of posting paper vouchers to parents each month or each week, these systems will use electronic vouchers, which will appear as credits in the parent's account. When the parent needs to pay the child care provider, they can simply transfer the voucher from their account to the provider's, much in the same way as you transfer money from one bank to another online. Using a secure log-in page, parents and carers will be also able to review their accounts, and check their remittances. Providers who are receiving paper vouchers from other parents can type in the voucher number for redemption, rather than post them off to the administrator, and all parties can use the site to contact the administrators with questions or problems.
[ At Fennies, we provide secure, easy-to-use electronic voucher facilities for our child care voucher schemes. Our dedicated site allows parents to receive and pay with vouchers, and child care providers to redeem them, making the whole process easier and quicker than before. ]
Date: 08/12/2005
The introduction of childcare vouchers provides a genuine cash saving for working parents, and Fennies Vouchers would like to ensure that the experience of using childcare vouchers is quick and simple, and does not add an unnecessary administrative burden to the already busy lives of the working family.
