nannies and tax credits..

[stella1w]

ok. I have worked out that I can claim tax credits if my nanny is ofsted-registered.
She would be looking after dc1 before/after school and in holidays and dc2 fulltime.
I think I am right in thinking that I should pay her the same amount every week, even though some weeks (eg school holidays) she will be looking after two children all day, rather than part of the day.
So my question is - do I claim the childcare element of tax credits based on the overall average that I pay her to look after both kids - or do I try to somehow break it down.
Just been on the not massively helpful hmrc website calculator and it seems that they need the overall figure - that would be very helpful if that woudl be the case!

Average it out is what all my parents do so I only have some kids in the holidays so we x it by 13 (school hol weeks) and divide by 52. They always accept this then you just confirm the figures at year end.

I think I am right in thinking that I should pay her the same amount every week

You don't need to, but there are a number of advantages in doing it that way - both Employers and Employees National Insurance is less, both your expenditure and her income are more stable which may be easier to manage, and it can make tax credit calculations and applications simpler as you have seen!

Note that the application form asks for weekly expenditure on childcare, not the annual total.