Guide discussion: Grandparents childcare credit

gregsy57

dc19 said:

I have claimed grandparents childcare credit for past couple of years. Latest claim form for tax year 21/22 was input early November 22 and estimated completion date by HMRC stated end November. Still awaiting completion. Previous years were dealt with a lot quicker. Seems there are exceptionally long delays at HMRC this year. 

Applied for my credits in October 22 and still waiting for them to show up. Anyone else still waiting?

dean909090

I am looking to submit an application for grandparent childcare credits. Is there a set amount of hours or days in a tax year, that you have to look after your grandchild to secure a full year of Credits? 
Does anyone have any experience of this please

molerat

The rules state that any week where you spend some time caring can be claimed.  People though seem to claim a full 52 weeks.

Singh23

Grandparent is eligible for their pension in Feb 2024. Grandchild born in Mar 2023.

Considering you cannot even yet make a claim for the recently ended tax year 2022/23 and it is nearly June, what is the process for getting the credits in time for pension eligibility date?

p00hsticks

Singh23 said:

Grandparent is eligible for their pension in Feb 2024. Grandchild born in Mar 2023.

Considering you cannot even yet make a claim for the recently ended tax year 2022/23 and it is nearly June, what is the process for getting the credits in time for pension eligibility date?

I'm not sure there is much point in claiming in the circumstances you describe.

If the grandchild was only born in March 2023 then the grandparent is only going to be able to claim for a few weeks in the 2022-23 tax year at most, and then only if the parent claiming the Child Benefit returned to work for those weeks immediately after the birth (as the credits are those that would have gone to the parent from the Child benefit but are not needed because the parent is working).  

And as the grandparent reaches State Pension Age in the 2023-24 tax year then any credits claimed for the 2023-24 will not count towards their state pension eligibility (as  the year in which you reach State Pension Age is excluded from the calculation).   . 

Gillwh

I submitted my first claim probably January this year as I hadn’t heard of this before.  I’ve heard absolutely nothing since & of course the postal strikes were happening then so my application could be on a post room floor somewhere!  Do you get any sort of notification of receipt; I’ve tried to phone the Hercules helpline but just can’t get through.
Thanks

evsue

I submitted my claim in November but still not heard anything.  Last year I received a postal notification in December following my submission the month before.  My NI records for 2021/22 haven’t been updated either so there must be long delays this year.

Gillwh

evsue said:

I submitted my claim in November but still not heard anything.  Last year I received a postal notification in December following my submission the month before.  My NI records for 2021/22 haven’t been updated either so there must be long delays this year.

It’s not helpful that there’s no way of contacting them apart from what’s clearly a very understaffed phone line. You’d think you’d be able to check your application has at least been received somehow or they should be releasing an estimate on processing times. 

gregsy57

Gillwh said:

evsue said:

I submitted my claim in November but still not heard anything.  Last year I received a postal notification in December following my submission the month before.  My NI records for 2021/22 haven’t been updated either so there must be long delays this year.

It’s not helpful that there’s no way of contacting them apart from what’s clearly a very understaffed phone line. You’d think you’d be able to check your application has at least been received somehow or they should be releasing an estimate on processing times. 

I did eventually manage to get through by phone. The best time to ring seems to be around 8am when the phone lines open. 

I explained that my credit was not showing after 5 months and I was about to claim my state pension so it would affect how much I received. The helpful lady apologised for the delay and said she’d refer it to the Back Office. A few days later my credit was applied. 

evsue

I know and this is a significant delay when compared with previous years - not just a couple of months! 🙄