Childcare vouchers are usually given to employees via a salary sacrifice arrangement where an employee gives up the right to part of his or her pay in return for them. The ‘qualifying earnings’ used to meet the minimum contribution requirements are based on the post-sacrifice level of salary, and so childcare vouchers wouldn’t count.

However, in reality many employers actually base their contributions on the pre-sacrificed salary ie what the salary was if employees didn’t receive any childcare vouchers.