Gran being paid for childcare?

BernadetteN

Smashing wrote: »

You can't claim for the costs of childcare if a relative is caring for your child in your own home, so if your mum is looking after them at her home then she can.

Sorry but that is incorrect.

In order to qualify for childcare costs, gran can only look after her grandchild in her own home or the child's home IF 1) she is a registered childminder (for own home) / approved childcare (for child's home) AND 2) she also looks after non related children at the same time. Look at the post above where someone has quoted the rules from Revenue' website.

Of course gran can look after her grandchild anywhere without registration or approval, but unless she has a non related child too, there is no eligibility for childcare costs.

Yorkshire-Lady_3

Please don't forget that Mum will be better off using a registered childminder as she'll get up to 70% of the costs paid.
sally

ShinobiPrincess

Hi all

Im the mum in question and wanted to say thanks so much for all the replies they were REALLY helpful and saved me alot of time! Looks like i will be best going with a childminder then - i will still get the 2 and half hours a day free she is in nursery but if i can get more help ill need it! got a list through the post of local registered childminders today though and it looks promising so it will be okay.

Thanks again everyone - what a great forum!!!!

TheWaltons_3

ShinobiPrincess wrote: »

Hi all

Im the mum in question and wanted to say thanks so much for all the replies they were REALLY helpful and saved me alot of time! Looks like i will be best going with a childminder then - i will still get the 2 and half hours a day free she is in nursery but if i can get more help ill need it! got a list through the post of local registered childminders today though and it looks promising so it will be okay.

Thanks again everyone - what a great forum!!!!

You're welcome!

And I thought it was 80% of the Childcare costs covered?

Gingham_Ribbon

Welcome! Careful. This place is addictive!

TheWaltons_3

Gingham_Ribbon wrote: »

Welcome! Careful. This place is addictive!

Very true indeed!!

Becles

ShinobiPrincess wrote: »

Hi all

Im the mum in question and wanted to say thanks so much for all the replies they were REALLY helpful and saved me alot of time! Looks like i will be best going with a childminder then - i will still get the 2 and half hours a day free she is in nursery but if i can get more help ill need it! got a list through the post of local registered childminders today though and it looks promising so it will be okay.

Thanks again everyone - what a great forum!!!!

I was in the same situation a few years back. My Mam couldn't claim anything for looking after my boys.

Stick around on the forums. As well as being useful if you are unsure of things, it's a great place to chit chat as well

Spendless

ShinobiPrincess wrote: »

Hi all

Im the mum in question and wanted to say thanks so much for all the replies they were REALLY helpful and saved me alot of time! Looks like i will be best going with a childminder then - i will still get the 2 and half hours a day free she is in nursery but if i can get more help ill need it! got a list through the post of local registered childminders today though and it looks promising so it will be okay.

Thanks again everyone - what a great forum!!!!

Hi, check with the childminders you contact because some do charge for the time that a child is at nursery/pre-school as they can not fill the space with another child during that time. Some don't of course, the childminder I considered didn't. If they all do charge and money is currently tight you might want to look into a nursery instead (if your pre-school doesn't offer extended hours) where your 2.5 hour free bit will reduce your fees. I realise you might prefer not to take this route and add extra upheaval.

Gingham_Ribbon

Spendless, would a nursery not give the full 5 hours free? Then she'd only have to pay for any additional hours. Are nurseries different to preschools?

Spendless

Gingham_Ribbon wrote: »

Spendless, would a nursery not give the full 5 hours free? Then she'd only have to pay for any additional hours. Are nurseries different to preschools?

When my son (now 7) was at nursery you could only have 2.5 hours free per session a session being an AM or PM session so son used to go 3 mornings 8-1 (15 hours in total) but I could only claim 7.5 hours free (eg 3 x 2.5 hours). The same applied when DD went to private nursery she went 3 full days 8-5.30 and I could claim the full 12.5 hours (eg 2.5 mon am, 2.5 mon pm etc till it got to 12.5 hours). BUT just as DD was leaving last summer to go to school nursery the nursery manager told me the rules had changed so that you could add some of the hours together, I'm sure she told me that there was an extra restriction eg perhaps you could only do it once but cos it didn't apply to me, afraid I wasn't listening very well and don't know the full details or if it applies everywhere.

AFAIK nurseries are no different to pre-schools, they follow certain topics (I don't know if this is national cirriculum at this age) and are ofsted inspected, just they *usually* offer longer hours than pre-schools.

The pre-schools in my area open 2.5 hours a day not always 5 days a week usually in the morning. I know from relatives living other places in the U.K who have extended hours, lunch clubs, but it's not available in my area.

A childminder may not charge. I considered one for DD when I wanted to do a particular college course this year and when I asked her for details she said she didn't charge for that time, but another childminder friend of mine does charge for the whole school day for her nursery charges regardless of whether they are in AM or PM nursery. It's just worth asking first to work out finances.