Fostering and housing benefit

taffalumpdog

Hi I don't know if anyone will be able to help me or at least point me in the right direction. I have spent hours on the computer trying to find info but had no luck so far. I will try and explain our situation as clearly as possible.

Right I am employed 16 hours a week earning approx £13000 a year. My husband is a self employed foster carer (fostering through an agency) and his yearly profit is £0 due to not meeting the threshold for needing to pay tax. We also have a one year old child of our own. Due to the low income we have put in a claim for working/child tax credits and housing and council tax benefits. Initially this went fine, however the problems started when I went back to work after maternity leave and put our child in childcare for the time I'm at work. We did this as although my husband is at home he needs to be free for any child we foster as we tend to look after teenagers with complex needs and he can't be carting off a baby to the various meetings etc he has to attend or to pick the child up from school after they've been behaving violently etc.

So notified everyone of this change of circumstance. Tax credits, no issues - we received additional money to help with childcare costs. However our housing benefit/council tax benefit immediately reduced to take into account this additional income. I disputed this after their explanation was that we had no need for childcare and explained the reasons why we did need it. Came back again refused on basis that he isn't in remunerative work and that foster caring allowance is disregarded for benefit purposes under various pieces of legislation.

Now I have a letter from my agency stating that part of the money we're paid each week consists of a fee - I have a info sheet from HM Revenue and customs which states that foster caring is considered 'qualifying paid work'. I intend to appeal their decision.

Has anyone come across this before or can they point me in the right direction to assist with my appeal. Surely it can't be right - I have been given extra money by one government department to pay for childcare but am unable to use this money for what it is intended as another department has reduced my income accordingly, leaving me with no money to pay all my bills!

Thank you to anyone who has got to the end of this post!

karenx

So your partner is self employed but alot of the time doesnt do the required 16 hours per week that you need in order to claim childcare costs. And that you are getting childcare costs paid but not using it to pay a childminder?

taffalumpdog

My husband works far in excess of 16 hours a week - it is a full time job caring for the children we foster. Our son is in a nursery whilst I am at work which is fully approved etc.

DaisyFlower

If he works far in excess of 16 hours a week but doesnt pay tax (and the threashold is very low) then perhaps if your household needs the income he needs to find better paid work.

Surely if you had more than one child yourselves he would have to look after more than one, so do you really need childcare??

Im sure the rules for WTC are being changed shortly (or proposed) so that they will consider those who are self employed to be at least on min wage per hour for all those declaring little or no profit yet claiming to meet the hours needed to claim.

taffalumpdog

The tax free allowances for fostering are actually very generous. We don't foster for the financial rewards but rather for the other rewards we get from it. The children we foster are very damaged children and require a higher level of care than our own would, it's not about my husbands inability to care for more than one child but about ensuring he is available to give that additional level of support for children we foster.

What I am hoping to receive help with is my claim for housing benefit to ensure that we can continue to foster by claiming benefits I believe we are entitled to - I'm not trying to fiddle the system.

hallowitch

there is a very good poster on here CIS who works in council tax recovery and i think(not 100% sure) she used to work in the benefit section send her a PM and ask her to look in


personally i don't see how a local authority can dictate who looks after your child you receive a benefit to pay child care cost you pay child care costs end of and I'm sure that there will be legislation to confirm that this benefit is exempt for the purpose of council tax

this is a very good site
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?160-Benefits-Tax-Credits-and-Minimum-Wage

taffalumpdog

hallowitch wrote: »

there is a very good poster on here CIS who works in council tax recovery and i think(not 100% sure) she used to work in the benefit section send her a PM and ask her to look in


personally i don't see how a local authority can dictate who looks after your child you receive a benefit to pay child care cost you pay child care costs end of and I'm sure that there will be legislation to confirm that this benefit is exempt for the purpose of council tax

this is a very good site
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?160-Benefits-Tax-Credits-and-Minimum-Wage

Many thanks - this is really helpful, will do as you suggest.

CIS

I've posted here as it may be of use to others.

I've never actually worked as a benefit officer - I have undergone professional courses in Housing & Council Tax Benefit as part of my job but I've never been a front line benefit officer.

The actual rules on paying childcare costs are roughly the same as that used by tax credits - a summary of the HB/CTB rules are here but I'd think you qualify on the face of it (I have a HB/CTB guide which I'll check when I get a chance).

I think the main issue here isn't the childcare itself, its whether your husband is in remunerative work and whether home based foster caring is remunerative work. If they don't count your husband as being in remunerative work then the childcare wont be disregarded and is counted as income.

merlin68

Just found this
How will the relief affect my entitlement to Working Tax Credit?

You are entitled to claim Working Tax Credit provided that you or your partner are in ’qualifying paid work’ for at least 16 hours a week if you have a child of your own, or 30 hours a week if you do not. Foster caring is ’qualifying paid work’.
How is my fostering income taken into account for tax credits?

You must include your income from foster caring in your declaration of income. Your foster caring income for tax credit purposes is the same as your taxable profit from fostering. So if your total foster care receipts are less than your qualifying amount, your profit from foster caring for both tax and tax credit will be nil.

hallowitch

council tax

18 Treatment of child care charges

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2006/215/contents/made
housing

28 Treatment of child care charges

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2006/213/contents/made

gizmo111

Your husband is a foster carer - therefore for benefits purposes he works 30+ hours but his earnings are zero.