Applying to Ofsted

[NannymcDeb]

I'm working towards getting registered with Ofsted to enable me to work as a nanny, so my employer can claim tax credits to pay me.
Anyway, I need Insurance, a first aid certificate and a CRB.
I've seen that Ofsted will do the CRB, the first aid I can find, (done many before, so it's mainly procedural), but can anyone reccomend the best place to go for Insurance???

Also, any Ifsted registered NAnnys out there willing to give me some advice, greatly appreciated!!

I've yet to hear from any nanny paid via tax credits, or any parent paying a nanny via tax credits. So would be interested to hear how it goes... what problems you encounter if any.

Insurance wise, MortonMichel, NCMA, NannyInsure are ones I can think of immediately. Age can be a factor when getting insurance, typically if Under21 then you may find that some insurers won't insure.

Cover by all insurers seems to be about the same, though do get policy summaries and compare them.

Extras can be added to the insurance if you are a live-in nanny, such as to cover your personal posessions.
Tell the insurer that you are doing Ofsted registration as they may offer a small discount.
I've been with MM for years and have my car insurance via them as well now.

I'm insured with Morten Michel, was the easiest one I found!

was £72.something I believe

Hi Nannynick.....The reason I'm doing all this is so my employer CAN use taxcredits to pay me, do they not do this then? At the mo I'm helping out here and there but I am qualified and they want me to do 3 days a week,but they thought they would be able to claim taxcredits to pay for childcare (i.e me!)

Does anyone get paid this way???

You can be paid with tax credits, but generally people that earn low enough wages to get tax credits can't usually afford to use a nanny as their form of childcare.

Childcare vouchers are often used to pay for childcare and are usually the ones that a nanny would need to be Ofsted registered to receive - but these are different to tax credits. They are a salary sacrifice scheme whereby the amount is deducted from your wage and is not liable for tax.

Hi there,

Thought i'd let you know that it is possible...

we are using an ofsted registered nanny as our childcare and I am claiming tax credits to do so. For us with 2 children the cost is compable to a nursery. Nanny is self employed (I know that this is not the norm, but she works for at least 3 different families each week as well as doing ad hoc work.)

Tax credit payments are quite straightforward. The money comes to us as the person paying for childcare and then we pay our nanny ourselves. The main problems that I have found are the need to be working over 16 hours each week and that hmrc's computer system can't cope with anything other than set hours each week, also that it is difficult to predict exactly what payment you will recieve as they don't publish the formula for working out.

I am very aware of the need for all of us to keep good records in case of a request for evidence.

Hope that helps

Great to hear that someone has managed to get the system to work. In theory it should work (and should you ever employ this nanny for set hours, thus falling more under being an employer, the tax credits claim can in theory include the additional Employers NI).

My es boss used to pay me with tax credits - I was an employed nanny.

Sorry I should add that it's the parent/person needing childcare who needs to work above 16 hours - (due to public sector cuts return to work hasn't been as simple as it should have been so am worried in case hours drop below 16!)

For the nanny they are not interested in how many hours they work, only the weekly total cost of childcare - max amount for weekly claim is 300 pounds - so for me I would loose money if i worked more than 3 days a week! I think it took our nanny about 6 months to get registered (including first aid cert etc) but it was under 12 weeks from when all the paperwork got sent off.

The only other thing is that she was initially told that she could only work for 2 people using her ofsted number (ie only 2 of the families could claim tax credits/voucher) but when she queried this was told it's ok to have more, the form has only been designed with space for 2!

The only other thing is that she was initially told that she could only work for 2 people using her ofsted number

Yep that's a complete load of ....
It's just their paperwork/computer systems that don't cope so well, as you say. A childminder or nursery can be used by lots of people... so no different for nannies in that respect. Though maybe there was some confusion with working for multiple families at the same time... where there is a limit of 2 family's.

Max claim amounts are:
£140 a week (£175 x 80%) for families with one child, and £240 a week (£300 x 80%) for families with two or more children.

So once the nanny is paid more than that, then the parents have to pay that directly, which may be hard if the parents themselves are not earning much more than the nanny.

The benefits system does not always reward people for going to work. My stepbrother is finding that he would get more money not working. Daft system! Hope they fix it somehow. ... rant over!

For those interested in reading more about the working tax credits rules, the WTC2 (PDF) and WTC5(PDF) guides are worth a read.