Child Tax Credit Eligibility - au pair with child

DJ2012

Hi

Can anybody help ? (I've tried the usual resources to no avail.)
I'm a single parent with 3 kids working part-time and have been looking for an au pair but the one I hope to employ (from Spain aged 39 with a 3 year old child who'd come with her) probably needs more money than the £75 for 30 hours plus food and accommodation that I'd offer for a 2 year au pair contract of employment. (National minimum wage does not apply etc.) She's asked me to find out what I ask below.

I want to know if the au pair can herself claim CHILD TAX CREDIT and/or CHILD BENEFIT for her and her 3 year old child - and/or any other benefits maybe ?. HMRC aren't very helpful - a matter of put in an application and see but it's catch-22 brcause she'll not come here unless she has a reliable indication of her eligibility. We will NOT be a COUPLE, I am not related to her (not parent of child and genuine employment), BUT she will be PART OF MY HOUSEHOLD in that I give her food and accommodation and she must provide childcare and light household help for 30 hours a week - which is how au pair works, and it frees me to work more and get more than 5 hours sleep a night, fingers crossed !

Thank you in advance to anybody who can help.

DJ2012

Rmeek

Perhaps try the tax credit calculator? http://taxcredits.hmrc.gov.uk/Qualify/DIQHousehold.aspx Gives a host of scenarios, but it is based on household income so not sure where she'd stand with that.

Dognobs

So you are asking the tax payer to pay for your au pair? Most au pair's are students or have other reasons to come to UK and don't have kids with them I feel there is a fiddle here!

You may want to read up on the rules aswell.

"Au pair schemes are subject to government restrictions which specify an age range usually from late teens to mid to late twenties."

clearingout

are you eligible for support with child care via tax credits? if so, she can make a voluntary registration with Ofstead, do a childminding course (see your local authority's website), get a letter of good conduct with her embasssy, register with the police (might be something else) and you should be able to claim tax credits against her if you are otherwise eligible.

However, the age thing mentioned above is an issue - again off the top of my head, 29 is the limit for au pairs.

DorsetGirl_2

Au Pairs can be from 17-27, not any older.

keigcf

Sorry if I sound harsh on her, but surely if she (and her child) are living with you, she'll have no rent/elec/council tax/food bills... surely £75 a week is plenty

Dontknowanymore

£75 a week and she dont have to pay for food, bills or accomodation, she dont need any more money than that.
As a lone parent of 1 child I used to get about £125 a week and pay for my bills and food from that, never had £75 left over after paying that all out.

t0rt0ise

If she can't be counted as an au pair she'd have to come as an employee with all the usual rules wouldn't she? ie NMW, tax and NI and then pay the OP rent and for food. Sounds like a minefield.

Edit to take all that back.. Looking here http://www.bapaa.org.uk/displaypage.asp?page=32 it says there is no age limit for EU people.

tyllwyd

I thought everyone was entitled to child benefit, so my guess would be that she would get that.

I was trying to google whether a nanny or au pair would be entitled to claim tax credits, but I can't find any information. What is puzzling me is that obviously you are paying below national minimum wage because she is part of your household, so she is saving on rent, food etc. and so how would you assess the financial benefit of that? My best guess (and this is only a guess!) is that as an au pair she is living as part of your household, so that her income for tax credits would have to be assessed as part of your household and thus her claim would have to take your income into account.

Vejovis

why are you wanting to bring this woman and her child over from spain. surely there are more than enough british women/men who would do the job for that salary while they're studying.

Oldernotwiser

It's amazing the number of people who think that working for less then £2.50 an hour's such a good deal, particularly those that get far more than this for doing nothing on benefits!