Au pair and Tax credits

[Mutokwa]

I'm getting an au pair first week of June. Can I claim tax credits? Are they categorised as child care providers please? Any one claimed child care Tax credits for using au pair please?

I think you can only claim the Childcare Element of Tax Credits if you use an Ofsted registered childcare provider. I don't think Au Pairs can register with Ofsted though. Maybe have a look on their website?

Seems au pairs can register with Ofsted

smartaupairs.wordpress.com/2009/11/15/childcare-voucherstax-credits/

They would need to do the training, so a common core course, paediatric first aid, plus they need nanny insurance. It is the insurance that I suspect may be the tricky bit as the insurer will only provide insurance to certain people - like all insurance, the underwriters have minimum requirements people need to meet.

So maybe start by contacting nanny insurance providers such as mortonmichel to establish if the person could get insurance. Call them to discuss.

There will be various costs involved, who would be paying those?

Which country are you in? In Scotland things are different to England. Wales also has a different scheme. Not sure about NI but it is probably also different.

How long is the aupair staying? It could take months to do training and complete Ofsted registration (assuming you are in England). So if aupair is only coming for the summer, it won't be worthwhile in my view.

Thanks ladies for your positive responses. I'm in England and the au pair is staying until October. I have a full time job,hubby has left to recuperate in his country.So,one salary,mortgage and child care........I will check out thw website provided.Thanks again.
xx

Thanks for the website. I have checked it out,very informative. x

If only staying until October it is not worth the cost in my view. It could be £400+ to get them registered (reg fee, first aid, common core training) and take several months. If they were staying a year, then it is more feasable but they may not get registered until Sept, so you won't have much of a period where you can claim a proportion of the childcare cost.

If you are paying your au-pair £400 a month and say they managed to register quickly so you had two full months of claiming, max claim is 70% (with max weekly limits imposed) so if 70% of £400 then £280 claim per month, thus after paying fees your saving may only be £100-£200.

Does not seem worthwhile. Different if they were staying a year, different if they are really a live-in nanny and being paid a lot more than an au-pair would usually get.