Employee FAQs

The Workplace Nursery Scheme lets you pay your nursery fees from your salary before Income Tax and National Insurance are deducted — in much the same way as a Cycle to Work scheme, but for nursery childcare.

Because the deduction happens before tax, you keep the money that would otherwise have gone straight to HMRC. For many families this means a saving of around 33% of what you currently pay for nursery.

Many families save around 33% of their nursery fees. The exact figure depends on your salary, your tax rate, and how much you currently pay in nursery costs.

The best way to find out your personal saving is to use our savings calculator — it only takes a couple of minutes and you do not need an account.

Tax-Free Childcare is a government scheme that gives you 20p for every 80p you pay in — up to a cap. The Workplace Nursery Scheme works differently: your entire nursery fee is deducted before tax, with no monthly cap on the amount.

For many families — particularly those with higher nursery fees or a higher rate taxpayer in the household — the Workplace Nursery Scheme can deliver a significantly larger saving. Our calculator can show you a side-by-side comparison for your situation.

Here is how it works:

1. Register your interest here — it only takes a few minutes.
2. We use your details to contact your employer and explain the scheme to them. It also helps if you mention it to them yourself — employers are often much quicker to act when an employee brings it to them directly.
3. If your employer agrees to participate, we put the scheme in place and you can start saving.

We handle the paperwork, the nursery, and the payroll coordination — you just need to get the ball rolling.

We will contact your employer on your behalf, but we would always encourage you to mention it to them too. Your employer does need to agree to participate before you can benefit — and hearing it directly from you, as someone who would genuinely use the scheme, often makes all the difference.

You do not need to know all the details yourself — just let them know you have registered your interest and that we will be in touch with them.

Most haven't — and that's absolutely fine. We have a dedicated FAQ page for employers explaining exactly how the scheme works and what it involves.

In many cases the scheme saves the employer money too through reduced Employer National Insurance contributions, so they often welcome it once they understand it. Register your interest and we will do the legwork.

No. Once your employer is on board, we deal directly with the nursery on your behalf. There is no harm in the nursery knowing the benefit they will gain from the scheme, your nursery will definitely get extra funds from your employer's savings, but you do not need to arrange or set up with them yourself.

You can use almost any registered nursery. There is no approved list or pre-registration required — we will work with your nursery as part of setting up the scheme.

The only exception is Bright Horizons

Bright Horizons operate their own equivalent scheme for parents of children in their nurseries. Because they run this independently, they do not work with third-party providers like us.

If your child attends a Bright Horizons nursery, we would encourage you to use their scheme — the savings available to you should be very similar, and ultimately we want every parent to be able to Feel The Benefit, whether that is through us or through Bright Horizons.

No — you do not need to change anything. The scheme works around your existing childcare arrangement.

If you are at a Bright Horizons nursery, you do not need to switch nurseries either — just use their own equivalent scheme instead.

Yes. A saving of around 33% of your nursery fees adds up quickly. If you are paying £1,200 a month in nursery fees, that is a potential saving of around £400 a month — or nearly £4,800 a year — staying in your pocket rather than going to HMRC.

Use our savings calculator to see the real numbers for your household.

Salary sacrifice reduces your gross (pre-tax) pay, which can actually have some helpful side effects:

• It may bring your income below the High Income Child Benefit charge threshold, meaning you could receive Child Benefit you are currently not entitled to.
• It could move you into a lower Income Tax bracket, so a larger portion of your remaining income is taxed at the basic rate.
• It can improve affordability calculations used by some mortgage companies and other finance providers.

It is worth checking how it affects your specific situation — particularly if you are close to a tax or benefit threshold. If you are unsure, speak to your payroll department, we will try and help too, but we are not able to provide tax or financial advice

There is a legal requirement that salary sacrifice cannot take your pay below the National Minimum or Living Wage. Your employer will make provision for this — it simply means the sacrifice amount is adjusted so your take-home pay stays above the threshold.

If you are close to minimum wage you will typically save a smaller amount, because you pay less Income Tax and National Insurance to begin with. But there is usually still a saving available, and it is always worth using the calculator to find out exactly where you stand.

The HMRC legislation that provides the tax relief concession for this scheme requires that the employer must be at least partly responsible for managing and financing the nursery provision — not just paying for it. The structured meetings are the practical way in which your employer provides that genuine involvement.

As the parent, you act as the employer's representative at these meetings. You are specifically not required to manage the nursery day-to-day, but you are required to provide management input and guidance to the nursery, which can be around key issues such as staffing levels, staff qualifications, larger projects, ambitions, strategic changes at the nursery, you must attend on behalf of your employer and ensure your full and genuine participation in the meetings. You will also be responsible for agreeing how your employer's financial nursery contribution is spent by the nursery.

You are specifically not involved in the day-to-day management of the nursery!

The meetings are structured and cover a small number of set topics, including:

• Staffing levels and staff training
• How the employer's financial contribution will be spent at the nursery
• The nursery's plans for the future
• Any challenges the nursery faces
• Project plans, expansion, facilities development, staff development, safety measures
• Any other material matters relating to the nursery's long term operations

Feel The Benefit facilitates and records every meeting, so you will always know what to expect. It is a structured meeting that is required to ensure that you, your employer and your nurseryall fulfill the legislative requirement as stipulated by HMRC.

Meetings are held periodically throughout the year. The exact frequency is agreed as part of setting up your scheme. Feel The Benefit schedules and coordinates them — you will not need to chase or organise anything yourself.

We understand that life does not always go to plan. If you cannot attend a scheduled meeting, let us know as soon as possible and we will rearrange. The meetings must take place — if they do not happen, the tax savings this scheme offer will not be applicable — but rescheduling a meeting can be arranged, but the meetings must be conducted fully and thoroughly to ensure that you can take advantage of the scheme savings.

No detailed preparation is needed. Feel The Benefit will provide app participants with an agenda in advance. You must attend, engage, and fulfill your obligations of contrubting to the management of the nursery in this meeting, atferwards you will be sent confirmation of the discussions that took place, ensuring that the required topics have been covered and the notes accurately record what was said and agreed. The meeting record is maintained by Feel The Benefit and will be accessible to all meetings participants via their respective online accounts.