Adjusted net income for tax-free childcare and salary sacrifice

Hi, I'm trying to understand if I qualify for Tax free childcare, with an income > 100k before any salary sacrifice is applied. Based on the information on the gov.uk website (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/adjusted-net-income), it looks like I should deduct the amount sacrificed into my pension (based on Step 3). However, on a phone call with Tax free childcare, the agent I talked to told me they could only deduct money that is paid to "private" pension, and not to "employment based" pension. This seems odd, as I could not find this information anywhere on the gov.uk website. My pension scheme is employment based, but the salary sacrifice is applied before income tax/NI contributions are applied. So as I understand it, based on gov.uk website, I do qualify for the benefit, but based on the agent I had on the phone, I do not qualify (as my pension is not private). Have I misunderstood anything? Many thanks!

Hi,

The contributions are step 3 are employee contributions. Contributions made under Salary Sacrifice are treated as Employer Contributions.

If you need further clarification please contact the helpline again.

EIM42780 - Salary sacrifice: contributions to a registered pension scheme: income tax effects

Thank you.