Introduction
The two key administrative responsibilities that the client has for RG Childcare are:
- Approving and rejecting CCV applications from employees
- Paying invoices to Reward Gateway for approved CCVs
PLEASE NOTE: Clients using the SmartPay™️ technology for Childcare Vouchers should refer to Making Childcare Voucher Approvals in SmartPay™.
Here's a handy overview of our simple process flow for administering CCVs:
Each month we'll send a notification email to the client, advising them that their employees' applications are ready to review. Clients cannot approve any applications or submit their CCV order to us before they receive this email.
It's important to make sure that approvals are made by the client soon after receiving the notification email from us, to avoid any delays in CCV payments.
Accessing applications
To review applications, client administrators need to log in to their Reward Manager account.
Head to rewardmanager.co.uk or find the ‘RM’ icon on the top right corner of the engagement platform (next to My Account).
In Reward Manager, use the menu on the left to navigate to Childcare and then Administer.
The Administer page will then display two sections, Payrolls and Current Tasks.
Payrolls
This section lists all the payroll names within the childcare scheme, along with the next payment date. To view all windows within a payroll, click the View button on the right-hand side of the row.
The payroll view will list out all milestone dates that the client and Reward Gateway have agreed upon during the implementation process.
Download our CCV Payroll Dates template document here
The table below contains explanations for the different date columns.
| Open date | The date on which employees can start applying for Childcare Vouchers each month. This is also the approval date of the previous month, so the application window never closes to employees. |
| Approval date | The date on which the employer can start processing employee requests. |
| Cut-off date | The date by which all requests must be processed, and orders submitted. This allows Reward Gateway to generate an invoice. |
| Payment date | On this date employees have their accounts credited with their requested voucher amounts. Contributions will only be released once the invoice has been paid (unless the client has been set up for Direct Debit payments). |
Current Tasks
This section lists all tasks that currently require attention and the date that the task is due.
Typical tasks highlighted in this section include, ‘Please approve, amend or reject all requests that you have received from your employees’ and ‘Please settle the invoice so that we may issue vouchers to your employees’.
To action a task listed in this section, click on the View button.
Approving and amending CCV applications
Clients will need to ‘Approve’ or ‘Reject’ all requests for Childcare Vouchers that have been received from their employees during that payroll period (i.e. week, month, etc).
Employee applications are separated into different types so that it’s really clear which ones are new joiners, which are leaving the scheme and which are amendment requests to their contributions amount.
Start with tabs 1-4, marking each request as approved or rejected by clicking on the corresponding circle.
Client administrators can also alter an employee’s requested amount by overtyping the value in the New Amount column which is displayed in each tab view.
At any stage, progress and changes can be saved and returned to later by selecting the Save Changes button in the below right corner.
Make sure to always hit Save Changes before progressing through to the next tab.
Once all requests have been processed, the order must then be finalised in the My Order tab.
We'll now briefly guide through each of the tab sections displayed:
1. New Requests
This tab shows employees who have applied for Childcare Vouchers for the first time or who have applied to rejoin the scheme after a suspended period of time.
2. Continuations
This tab shows employees who already receive Childcare Vouchers but need to be verified in case there are any changes to their circumstances.
3. Amendments
This tab shows employees who are currently using Childcare Vouchers but have requested to change the amount they sacrifice.
4. Cancellations
This tab shows employees who no longer wish to receive Childcare Vouchers.
5. My Order
This tab shows the final list of employees who have been approved to receive Childcare Vouchers and the amount that the client will need to pay to Reward Gateway (excluding VAT).
Rejecting applications
Employee applications should be rejected by the client if:
- The employee’s salary will fall below national minimum wage if the requested salary reduction is actioned
- The employee has not returned a signed copy of the employee Variation of Contract agreement to the relevant person (this is only applicable if the client has chosen to operate the paper agreement option, which will have been agreed during the implementation meeting)
- The employee’s circumstances have changed for any other reason and it is deemed unsuitable to receive Childcare Vouchers
- The employee has informed you on their intention to leave Childcare Vouchers in order to join Tax-Free Childcare - you must stop giving the parent Childcare Vouchers and must not allow them to take vouchers again in future. Don't worry, if you select this as a rejection reason the system will automatically prevent the member restarting their contributions later.
Submitting the order
Once the order has been submitted from the My Order tab, Reward Gateway will send an electronic invoice to the client via email. The client must pay the invoice before the employees’ payday so that we can credit the employees’ accounts with the relevant Childcare Voucher amount on payday.
Exporting information
The information shown on the Admin Panel can be exported using the Export Applications button. This will usually appear on the right-hand side of the screen.
Making changes after submitting an order
Unfortunately, changes are not permitted after an order has been placed with Reward Gateway for CCVs. It is therefore important that the client administrator checks that their order matches their payroll adjustments before confirming the order.
If there is a change in an employee’s circumstances which affects a submitted order, please contact clientsupport@rewardgateway.com as soon as possible.
Useful Links
Transferring to RG Childcare from another provider