Children being cared for within their own home

[twinkle05]

Just wondered if anyone can help? I have a question regarding childcare and assistance from tax credits.

I telephoned tax credits this morning for advice as I have been trying to arrange a childminder from September. I?ve found a lovely young girl who lives close by, she is newly qualified. I initially wanted to know if it was essential that she was OFSTED registered. They explained that is was necessary, however then went onto say that they do not contribute to children who are cared for within their own home. I wasn?t aware of this. I explained that as I work for the ambulance service my shifts are 12 hours long, sometimes starting at 6am, so I really need someone who can come to the house rather than having to get the children out of bed at a ridiculously early hour. Apparently their policy is set in stone and individual circumstances such as occupation and shifts aren?t taken into account.

I had heard of people who had got their au pairs OFSTED registered so that they could gain help from tax credits. If so how does that work, surely they would live in? Also, I assume most nannies? look after children within their own home. Again does this mean that tax credits won?t contribute towards the cost of a nanny?

I would be grateful for any advice

I think if you have a nanny who is OFSTED registered you can use the childcare vouchers but no idea about tax credits - hopefully someone with more experience will come along soon.

All childminders looking after a child aged 7 or younger for more than two hours in any day must register with Ofsted.

You certainly can claim the Childcare Element of Working Tax Credit for an Ofsted registered nanny caring for children in your own home, although the regulations confusingly call them "home child carers" - read this guidance, it is more reliable than the telephone 'help' line.

You are able to use tax credits towards any form of Registered Childcare. As you are mentioning Ofsted, I presume you are in England. If you are not in England, then do say which country you are in as things do vary slightly.

As MrAnchovy says, read WTC5 for details of what you can claim via tax credits towards childcare costs. Maybe it was the wording you were using that confused the helpline operator - a nanny is a Home Child Carer.

Your nanny will need to meet criteria for Ofsted registration... they can use my unofficial guide to registration to help them complete the registration form.
As they have completed a childcare course recently, it should with luck be suitable for registration. They will need to do a Paediatric First Aid course - they may have done so as part of their childcare course, and they will need to have nanny insurance (public liability insurance), which they can get from a provider such as MortonMichel.

Thank you all

Yes, I am in England

She has a level 3 diploma in childcare and education. I checked and she has an up to date paediatric first aid certificate and relevant CRB checks. Is the only other thing she will need public liability insurance in order to register? Can anyone give me an idea of roughly how much a month you pay for this?

Also, excuse my ignorance but what are the main differences between a childminder and a nanny? Is it simply that a nanny is a "home carer" where as childminders tend to care for children from their own premises?

Are there any other implications for me with regards to having a nanny rather than childminder? I assume if she calls herself a nanny I will be her employer where as if she is a childminder she is self employed?

My mum had a nanny in 2009/10 for my then 3 year old sisters in their own home and tax credits paid for that, e are in Scotland not sure if that makes any difference.

Liability insurance is paid yearly (current cost £60 if the nanny is registering or is already registered with Ofsted)... not sure it can be done monthly... it may be possible but it may be like other insurance whereby it's done via a credit agreement. Your nanny would need to ask the insurance broker.

As part of the Ofsted registration process, Ofsted will do another CRB check - it is that check which can take time, so registration could take a few weeks or longer if the nanny has had multiple addresses over the past 5 years.

excuse my ignorance but what are the main differences between a childminder and a nanny?

A childminder works in their own home and cares for children from multiple families. A childminder runs their own business. You use their service, you can not tell them what to do. Childminders caring for children for 2 hours or more in any day need to be registered.

A home childcarer (nanny) works in the home of the family and cares for children from just that family, or sometimes from 2 families (a nannyshare). A nanny is an employee, they work for you and you can tell them what to do. Nannies do not need to be registered, though can be registered as a "home child carer" so that parents can use Childcare Vouchers or Tax Credits.

I assume if she calls herself a nanny I will be her employer where as if she is a childminder she is self employed?

Employment status does not depend on the job title... it is the nature of the work which is one of many factors that determines employment status.

If they come to your home and care just for your children, then they will be your employee. You will need to operate payroll - you can subcontract that out to a payroll provider such as www.payefornannies.co.uk who will help you register as an employer, help prepare a contract of employment, provide monthly payslips, remind you when to pay money to HMRC, that sort of thing.

MrAnchovy's PAYE Calculator can help give you an idea of the financial figures involved. As the employer, you pay your nanny a Gross Salary. You pay Employers National Insurance to the Government on top of that Gross Salary. From the Gross salary you deduct Employee Income Tax and Employee National Insurance, which results in the Net Salary figure (the amount which you pay the nanny as their take home pay). You pay the employee income tax and employee national insurance you deducted from your nannies salary to the Government. Sounds complex but it isn't once you get used to it and a payroll company will make it easy for you - the payroll companies charge around £130 a year.
For tax credits purposes when making your tax credits claim you are permitted to include in the cost of childcare: nannies gross salary, employers NI, payroll admin charge. Think it's WTC5 which says about that, though it may be WTC2.

Thank you all, that's really helpful advice.

I rang tax credits back and spoke to a different lady who confirmed that as long a she was OFSTED registered then it would be absolutely fine.

From looking on the OFSTED website it states their requirements are that the applicant can satisfy the core skills. After looking through them this is no problem, however does anyone know how you prove this? Do you simply write down experience and qualifications on the application or do you get assessed by someone as part of the application process.

The whole process does seem a little daunting I must say, particularly the financial side. Thank you for the advice on subcontracting Nannynick, I'm almost certain I will do that.

Am i right in thinking the next step is to get my nanny to fill in OFSTEDS CR1 form. Is this the only form that needs to be completed for this process?

Thank you

How to prove common skills - tricky that one. I think Ofsted use the qualifications database to check if the training that has been done is suitable for registration. I would suggest that if the course has an ! by the common skills part, that going on a separate common skills course would be useful to help prove that they do know about things like multi-agency working. A common skills course can be done via distance learning, costs around £120 so isn't cheap. I've never been inspected by Ofsted so I don't know if it's sufficient or not but with luck a Level 3 childcare course plus common skills should be more than acceptable for registration.

Yes, you put the training done on the application form. I think you also tick a box to confirm that you feel you meet the requirements. Copies of certificates may be asked for. I seem to remember having to send a copy of my first aid.

Yes, the CR1 form... probably best to do it online.