 |
| fee
direct |
| @
buffer bear nurseries |
Employers can enjoy many of the
benefits of a Workplace Nursery, without a high level of capital
investment or exposure to financial risk, by setting up a Fee
Direct @ Buffer
Bear partnership nursery scheme.
Partnership nurseries can enjoy the same tax and National Insurance
exemptions as Workplace Nurseries if the Inland Revenue is satisfied
that the employer is wholly or partly responsible for financing
and managing the nursery.
Fee Direct @ Buffer Bear includes structured capital contributions
that meet this financing condition and management committees
that allow employer partners to have a meaningful but efficient
involvement in the running of the nursery.
This approach gives employers the required degree of influence,
without an onerous day-to-day management burden.
The result is that employers can take up places as they need
them in any Buffer Bear nursery, and still enjoy all the tax
and National Insurance benefits of a Workplace Nursery. The cost
of providing the nursery scheme across the Fee Direct network
is tax deductible too.
Even Government departments can take advantage of these benefits.
Because Fee Direct promotes good employer practice, it is acknowledged
to be exempt from Treasury Guidelines that advise against using
tax planning schemes. |
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| pros... |
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Employers only pay for the
places
they use |
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Employees can use any Buffer
Bear Nursery |
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Maximum tax benefits possible |
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Employer has influence over
the service provided |
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Nursery
can be near employee’s
home |
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| cons... |
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Only appropriate if Buffer
Bear
Nurseries are available in convenient locations |
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| case study
1 |
The Department of
Constitutional Affairs has taken places in Buffer Bear nurseries
since 1993. Since then it has twice increased the number of places
it can take up throughout the country. Each time a new nursery opens,
DCA staff are given details, and are quite often amongst the first
to take up places, for example at Newcastle in 1994 and at Reading
in 1996.
Research amongst
its staff has shown that parents prefer to leave their child in their
home community, with other children who will go on to the same school.
This is particularly true for DCA employees working in Central London, who
are also concerned about taking children on crowded public transport. |
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| case study
2 |
| Nuffield College,
Oxford paid for places for some of its staff at the nearby Buffer
Bear nursery for some time, but then decided to extend the relationship.
Its students and staff now have priority for a number of places at
the nursery. The availability of the childcare for children from
3 months old to five years is publicised to potential new students,
in order to encourage applications from people with young children. |
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| case study
3 |
Ward Hadaway is a
medium-sized firm of solicitors in Newcastle. A number of their employees
were already using the nearby Buffer Bear nursery, when they approached
Buffer Bear at the instigation of one of their parents.
They wanted to offer free nursery places to their employees as part of their
remuneration package. This was seen as a way of making the childcare more
affordable for their staff, but in order that the free place did not become
taxed as a benefit-in-kind, Ward Hadaway set up a Fee Direct scheme and became
involved in the financing and management of the nursery.
They made a modest capital contribution to the refurbishment of part of the
nursery, and began to attend Management Committee meetings three times a
year. Their employees are now delighted to be able to continue to use the
nursery, in the knowledge that their interests are being doubly safeguarded
by their employer’s involvement in such matters as quality of care,
employment of nursery staff and setting of fees. And on top of this the childcare
is much more affordable. |
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