Tax credits - childcare element advice

thecoffeehouse204

I currently work two days a week and our little girl is in nursery those two days. My employer has now asked me if I can spread my hours over three days instead of two - obviously this will mean that we will have to pay out for an extra days nursery every week but as i'm still going to be doing the same hours I won't be receiving any extra pay.

I'm planning to try and ring the tax credits tomorrow to find out where we stand but does anyone know if we will be entitled to any extra tax credits due to this increase or will they just say that as i'm only doing 16hrs a week and in theory they could be done in two days they won't contribute towards 3 days nursery fees. Not sure whether they just look at the weekly amount and pay a percentage of that or if they compare the weekly amount to hours worked and work out their contribution that way.

To make it more awkward due to demand in our area most of the nursery's will only do full days so even if she's only there 6hrs a day we have to pay the full day rate and to pre-empt any questions the only family we have in the area are my parents and they are 79 & 90 so not an option for childcare.

Any advice would be much appreciated as my boss really put me on the spot and wanted an answer straight away but I explained I needed to work out the logistics of it and find out if there was even an extra day in nursery available.

Icequeen99

It is surprising to lots of people that there is no rule in tax credits about how much childcare you can claim for. It doesn't have to match your hours of work.

As long as you meet the minimum hours requirement for the childcare element (16 hours single parent/16 hours each for couples with some exceptions) then you can claim for any childcare you pay providing it is registered/approved.

So if you are a single parent working 16 hours, you can claim 30 hours childcare.

I suspect it isn't really over-abused though because you still have to pay at least 30% of the costs yourself.

IQ

Pedent

Icequeen99 wrote: »

It is surprising to lots of people that there is no rule in tax credits about how much childcare you can claim for. It doesn't have to match your hours of work.

As long as you meet the minimum hours requirement for the childcare element (16 hours single parent/16 hours each for couples with some exceptions) then you can claim for any childcare you pay providing it is registered/approved.

So if you are a single parent working 16 hours, you can claim 30 hours childcare.

But of course, although there's no limit to the number of hours you can claim for, there is a limit to the amount you can claim: £175/week for 1 child, or £300/week in total for more.

Icequeen99

Pedent wrote: »

But of course, although there's no limit to the number of hours you can claim for, there is a limit to the amount you can claim: £175/week for 1 child, or £300/week in total for more.

Yes , of course, the existing rules apply to the hours claimed which includes the maximum income limits.

IQ

thecoffeehouse204

Icequeen99 wrote: »

It is surprising to lots of people that there is no rule in tax credits about how much childcare you can claim for. It doesn't have to match your hours of work.

As long as you meet the minimum hours requirement for the childcare element (16 hours single parent/16 hours each for couples with some exceptions) then you can claim for any childcare you pay providing it is registered/approved.

So if you are a single parent working 16 hours, you can claim 30 hours childcare.

I suspect it isn't really over-abused though because you still have to pay at least 30% of the costs yourself.



IQ

Thanks for the quick response - I am quite surprised they don't take hours into account but like you said for most people it wouldn't be worth trying to abuse the system. I've since managed to do a dummy run on the entitled to site and think we might be around £12 a week worse off but when I take into account how much I can spend on a day off with LO taking her places to keep her occupied it might be worth it - plus shorter working days will mean i'll have chance to catch up on housework without her getting under my feet.

Thanks for the advice - think i will still check with Tax Credits before letting my boss know just in case but it's looking positive.

EDIT - just wonder if this will be something that might change when the Universal credit system comes into being.

Icequeen99

I suspect it will change with UC.

IQ