Childcare Costs discussion

dangers · 19 November 2008 at 9:12PM

whmon wrote: »

Yorkshire Lady, Log onto the OFSTED site, key in any area postcode, see the list of providers in that area, click onto the name of any of those providers, get their OFSTED number, simple as that! (and help yourself to name and address from the OFSTED report.)

Names and addresses are not on the Ofsted website for childminders. There is no reference on the inspection report as to who the childminder is, or where they live.

scootermacc · 5 December 2008 at 1:42PM

Hi all.

There is new legislation in place that affects mothers WHO ALREADY HAVE A CHILD IN CHILDCARE AND ALREADY CLAIM VOUCHERS TO PAY FOR IT when they have a second (or more I guess) child.
> additional personal note: we believe we will be £1000 better off as a result of following this through with my wife's employer.

If I understand this correctly, the employer is liable to continue paying childcare vouchers during the period of maternity leave. This is done by salaray sacrifice as normal on any pay made to the mother ABOVE statutory maternity pay. However, they are NOT allowed to use the statutory maternity pay itself as part of the salary sacrifice. So they at least have to pay the mother the statutory maternity pay AND pay the childcare vouchers, even though the mother has no pay to sacrifice!

Further, if the mother decides to take the extra 3 months UNPAID maternity leave they are legally entitled to (months 9 to 12), the employer STILL has to pay the childcare vouchers, even though the mother is being paid no money at all.

I am not sure yet how this affects the pay or NI situation in general (there is bound to be some form of impact), but on the face of it the mother is entitled to have her employer pay for her childcare vouchers while she is on maternity leave.

If this is right, this could be hundreds of pounds of childcare assistance that mothers can claim from their employers.

Is there anyone out there with someone with more detailed knowledge who can explain this a bit more? Maybe this will be of interest to Martin himself, as its new legislation and should be included in the main childcare vouchers article (once its understood!).

Here's a link to more reading on this: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/employers/sml-salary-sacrifice.pdf

I've done some sums on this now:
Even with the reduced Statutory Maternity Pay my wife will suffer due to the salary sacrifice system, I believe we will be around £1000 better off over the year as a result of this legislation. This assumes that we would have continued to pay for the childcare costs for our first child from our own pocket during the upcoming maternity pay. Other people could be even better off, depending on the maternity pay rules applied by their employer.

£1000!!! If you are reading this, and in this situation, please make sure that you and your employer are aware of this new legislation !!!

malcolmcoles · 18 December 2008 at 11:33PM

pilpil wrote: »

I'm wondering if there is any way that we can get the childcare vouchers? My husband has his own business of which he is the director and sole employee. Could he forfeit some of the salary he pays himself and get the vouchers since in theory he is an employee of his own company?.

You can do this. There's a useful post here (the one by Pete T) that includes info on how to do it, including how to bypass childcare voucher companies and do it directly. You can no longer access the PDF linked to from the HMRC website for some reason.

RobN_2 · 28 January 2009 at 12:28PM

I'm hoping someone can offer some advise on this situation:

My partner has a daughter and works > 35 hours a week at a little over minimum wage. She used to claim tax credits which covered the nursery fees.

We have now all moved in to a new house together and as a result of living with me my partner is no longer entitled to claim tax credits (I have a higher than average wage but am comfortably short of earning enough to be a high rate tax payer). We have looked into childcare vouchers and have been told by one of the voucher companies that I am not entitled to claim any as I am not the girl's father ("government rules, not our fault" etc.). Also, my partner is not allowed to claim any either (actually she can claim something silly around £5 a week in vouchers) as she doesn't earn enough! (we have been told that vouchers can only be taken on gross pay that is above minimum wage - "government rules, not our fault" etc. again).

So on one hand I'm enough of a part of their life to remove the tax credits, but not enough to grant the right to claim childcare vouchers.

Can anyone suggest anything that might be of use to us? The posts above by inamess200 and clareybear look interesting, does anyone know if we'd be entitled to take advantage of either of those systems?

Fliss_M · 28 January 2009 at 1:44PM

I note that when working over 16 hours a week and with a family income of £40,000 per annum or less you can claim the working tax credit - childcare eliment. Question, matins article reads 40,000 but when you look at HMRC website, the calculator cuts off this element at £30,000 per annum. Has there been a recent change or is martin wrong? As I was on maternity feb to oct 2008 and dh was unemployed sept-dec 07 it means we earned just under £30,000 for 07-08 and will earn under £40,000 for 08-09. So This does make a difference to me for next year. (irritatingly tho we will be back up to £43,000 for 09-10 so then it all dries up. Always the wrong side of the blasted line!)

Former_MSE_Wendy · 29 January 2009 at 4:51PM

Hi

We say in the Childcare Costs guide to ensure you check if you're entitled to anything if you earn under £40k, as some will be and some won't, rather than you WILL get Childcare Tax Credit if you earn under this amount.

Hope this helps.

Wendy

swimgirl · 29 January 2009 at 10:58PM

I asked the question about childcare costs in the holidays and - according to the tax credit dept you can only clam holiday club costs for ofsted registered centres for 4 CONSECUTIVE WEEKS.
So bang goes the costs for Christmas, Easter and half-term holidays, only the summer will count.
If anyone knows different or thins I have been misinformed, please let us know!

Hard_Up_Gran · 28 February 2009 at 5:44PM

I have had to give up my job to look after my delicious twin grandchildren but am finding it hard to manage without my salary. Am I entitled to ANYTHING?

Hard_Up_Gran · 28 February 2009 at 5:50PM

I suppose I ought to add a few details to the above post. My daughter has a small part time job and her husband works full time but they cannot afford to pay me very much at all. Are there any government benefits I (or my daughter) can claim? I expect the reply will be that the government doesn't recognise the good work by grandparents or other family members but that means they are getting off scott free. Grr.

Yorkshire-Lady_3 · 28 February 2009 at 9:05PM

If you get registered as a childminder, then your daughter can clain child tax credits and could get up to 80% of the fee's paid.

So, she could pay you £3 per hour per child, and she's have to pay only 60p per hour/per child of that.

You'd also have to register with the Tax office, and be prepared to undergo many hours of training.

Y-L

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