WTC - Childcare Element - Voluntary Ofsted Registration

Bluewater_Babe

Please help, I'm a first time poster!

I starting working more hours on january from 17 to 25 and we have employed a nanny (hate the word, but that is what she is) I HAVE ONLY DONE THIS BECAUSE HMRC WILL GIVE ME 80% BACK VIA WTC, it was by far cheaper for my husband to employ me as admin in his company because a will work for very little money (!) and pay for childcare because the government will pay 80% of the nannys gross wages, but 0% of his admin persons wages. My husband and i work the right hours, earn under the threshold etc etc.

Now my problem is ... it has taken 4 months and we still don't have the voluntary ofsted number for her, it took 9+ weeks to get ALL the paperwork sorted, then ofsted sent it to the police station to have her CRB'd. Ofsted now say (and they won't talk to ME only the nanny cos it's the nannys form) that the CRB could take 90 days 'it's not technically over due until 91 days' and they won't chase it until it's overdue!

So we have had 4 months of paying for her, and i keep consoling myself with the fact that i can claim back 3 months money when we do finally get the number. UNTIL THIS MORNING. when i read through my CTC/WTC declaration that says now any changes have to be reported within a month and that i can only claim back one months money from HMRC.

So i have phoned HMRC and the guy on the phone basically said i am caught between a rock and a hard place, but i should appeal. I asked what he thought my chances were, he said it will all down to the letter i wrote (maybe how articulate i was, how well i argued my point).

BUT i still don't have a case to argue, because the nanny still doesn't have an ofsted number, and HMRC said i shouldn't confirm my changes yet, because i have until july and i will have the number then and i should change all the details together.

I am fuming that they can change the rules without telling us, AND that it takes 3-5 months - possibly - to actually get the voluntary ofsted.
This process is...
Nanny phones osfted
Ofsted send her the paperwork,
She fills it in and sends it to ofsted.
Ofsted send her some more paperwork,
She fills this in and takes it to the post office who varify she is who she says she is - she also hands the post office the money at this point.
the post office send this all back to ofsted.
(ofsted in this case said the post office and written in the wrong place on the from and send the nanny back the forms to fill in again, to take to the post office again)
Ofsted then send the forms to her local police station to do the CRB.
The police station have 90 days to do the CRB
The police station send the nanny one copy ad ofsted one copy of the CRB.
Ofsted then check all the documents again, and send the nanny the ofsted certificate.
I then gather all documents and phone HMRC and tell them we have the ofsted number! (so even though i employ the nanny and they are my children i do not have a hand in the ofsted process and they will not talk to me about it)

<><>

Now reading this again, i am not sure what i want help with. I suppose it is the injustice of it all and maybe some help with the letter (without the ramblings of an angry mad working mother who has no time!) so i have a better chance of getting my money.

Thanks for taking the time to get to the end!

BB xx:mad: :eek: :A

Oldernotwiser

Surely your nanny had a CRB done before you started to employ her?

Bluewater_Babe

Ofsted won't 'allow' a previous CRB to count for their certificate.

A CRB is only valid for the day that is is issued. It is basically saying, so far this person doesn't have a record with us. Or it says, yes this person does have a record. So obviously, you could have the CRB check done on a monday, and on the Friday do out and doing something naughty that then goes on your record, but it won't show on the CRB you had done on Monday!

[Deleted User]

HMRC will also only backdate to the date when the Nanny became registered. It is fraudulent to claim for help during the time she is not registered as they will only help toward childcare costs with a registered provider and over the last 4 months she was not registered.

Could you not have employed someone who was already registered???

Bluewater_Babe

No, because they only started this system late last year and i started looking for someone in Nov/Dec so nobody had the ofsted registration (you also have to have a job to get the registration approved).

I have phoned HMRC 5 times in the last four months and spoken to 5 people about it and no one has EVER given me this information - even the guy today. Now that i know this, I won't bother claiming for what i have paid. I just wish it was clear and EVERYONE knew the rules and that the were the same rules!

Oldernotwiser

Bluewater_Babe wrote: »

Ofsted won't 'allow' a previous CRB to count for their certificate.

A CRB is only valid for the day that is is issued. It is basically saying, so far this person doesn't have a record with us. Or it says, yes this person does have a record. So obviously, you could have the CRB check done on a monday, and on the Friday do out and doing something naughty that then goes on your record, but it won't show on the CRB you had done on Monday!

I thought that it might speed things up if one had been done a couple of weeks earlier.

Bluewater_Babe

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I thought that it might speed things up if one had been done a couple of weeks earlier.

You think so, wouldn't you, but life's not so easy!

HappyDuck_2

I starting working more hours on january from 17 to 25 and we have employed a nanny (hate the word, but that is what she is) I HAVE ONLY DONE THIS BECAUSE HMRC WILL GIVE ME 80% BACK VIA WTC, it was by far cheaper for my husband to employ me as admin in his company because a will work for very little money (!) and pay for childcare because the government will pay 80% of the nannys gross wages, but 0% of his admin persons wages. My husband and i work the right hours, earn under the threshold etc etc.

Hi, im a little concerned about you saying you work for your HB because you worrk for very little. If your an employee he must pay NMW or he is breaking the law. A way around it would be for you to be SE, then you can work for as little as you like. If you have declared yourself as emp earning below NMW any advisor at any point or a system spot check could pass your case to compliace for a possible fraud investigation.