How to save money for Ukrainians working in the UK (advice from advocates)

Ukrainians who are temporarily staying in the UK because of the war and are officially employed can save money using the Tax-Free Childcare platform. The lawyers explained how it works during the webinar.

Advocate Kristina Babich-Kasyanenko spoke about the possibilities of using UK government schemes by Ukrainian citizens during the webinar «Tax-Free Childcare - an effective tool for saving money for working parents and reimbursement of travel to UK medical facilities», organized by Oleksandr Chernikh, the UNBA representative in Scotland, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The essence of Tax-Free Childcare is that every working Ukrainian in the UK can receive additional financial assistance to a personal online account in the amount of up to £500 per month for 3 months (up to a total of £2000 per year) for each child to help with the care of a child aged from birth to 11 years or 16 years if the child has a disability (such assistance increases to £1000 per month for 3 months, if the child has a disability - up to £4000 per year).

You can use these funds to pay for private nannies, nurseries, preschools, after-school clubs and playrooms. The only condition is that such a childcare provider must be registered with Tax-Free Childcare.

An application for such financial assistance to working parents is submitted online by one of them by opening an account via the link.

In this case, it is necessary to have:

• national insurance number with the date of birth of the person submitting the application;
• national insurance number with the date of birth of the partner (if any);
• payslip, P60 form or passport;
• birth certificate of each child;
• a document with the date when the applicant and his/her partner (if any) started their last job (this may be an approximate date if the job lasts more than three months).

The application will be reviewed by the relevant department within 10 days and the applicant will be notified.

If the application is successfully approved, the applicant is required to confirm his/her eligibility to participate in such a government program on a monthly basis for 3 months by filling out a simple questionnaire regarding employment and earnings.

In addition, while in the UK, Ukrainian nationals may receive reimbursement of reasonable travel expenses under the Healthcare Expenses Scheme if they or their children are referred to a hospital or other medical facility of the national healthcare system for specialized treatment, diagnostic tests by a doctor, dentist or other primary healthcare professional.

The main criteria for receiving such reimbursement are:

• receiving benefits;
• a referral for specialized care from a medical professional to a specialist or hospital for further treatment or tests;
• such an appointment must be a separate visit from the appointment when the referral was made.

Under UK law, no reimbursement of any kind is available:

• travel expenses when visiting someone in hospital;
• visits to a GP, dentist or other primary care provider for routine check-ups or other services such as vaccinations or cervical cancer screening, as these are excluded from the scheme;
• emergency primary health care outside of working hours (from 18:30 to 20:00 on weekdays, weekends and holidays).

To receive reimbursement of travel costs, the applicant must contact the cashier or, in the absence of a cashier, a responsible person with a package of documents confirming such expenses.