Child Tax Credits and Child care element

[poppymum11]

Hi all...not going back to work till October but am already panicking about the looming prices of childcare. I know there is help out there available towards child care costs but not sure if I qualify? I don't have any family here and neither does my partner and we would solely be looking to put our DD into childcare 5 days a week while we work (not that I want to but we need the pennies). Here in Scotland your looking at 200 pounds a week and I know that Child Tax Credits can pay up to 70% of this but not sure if we qualify? My partner and I make a total annual income of 35k and would really need help with this as our monthly outings are just ridiculous as they are. If anyone can give any help/advice it would be much appreciated! I have done the calculator thing on the Revenues website but not sure if the total amount calculated is to be divided over 12 months meaning we would get about 200 squid a month extra leaving us to find the extra 600?! Oh its all so complicated :S thank you for your help :)

Try using some of the other online calculators to see what figures they give you:

HMRC (Guess this is the one you have tried)
Money for Mums
Money Saving Expert

See if they all give a similar figure. The one on MoneySaving Expert gives a weekly figure for Child Tax Credit but I don't know what it actually means. Possibly that you can claim but won't get the full 70% - more like £45 a week, so similar to the 200 a month figure you have already calculated.

If either of your employers offers Childcare Vouchers, you may be better using them. So something else to look into.

On a salary of £35k with just one child you will only qualify for basic tax credits which is approx £40 a month.

I'd check if your employers offer childcare vouchers.

On a joint salary of £35k you won't get anywhere near 70%. I think we get 65% on a joint salary of £15K.

Our joint income is £37K, our nursery costs are £160 a week and we get ~£200 a month from the Childcare element of working tax credit. We get no working tax credit. This matches what I found on the HMRC calculator - about 30% of child care costs. It's a massive help (was even more last year). We also get child benefit for 2 children - £130 a month.