PERMANENT NIGHTS REGISTERED CHILD MINDER PROBLEM ?

[TROOBLUE1878]

Is there anyone else having problems getting registered child care for 50 hour week ...well i could not find a solution so i employed a friends daughter paid her 25 pound a night but the inland revenue refuses to accept my child care expenses in fact with tunnel tolls fuel for a 70 mile round trip and childcare at 125 pound a week my annual expenses totted up to 11,000 now they want me to pay back £ 3500.00 in overpayment as they say i passed through the £29000 barrier......what a mess .

Childcare needs to be registered with Ofsted
£125 per week is not that expensive for childcare
Your travelling costs to work are not relevant, we all have living expenses

Employing a friend's daughter would be fine if the friend's daughter becomes fully registered and qualified.
Like insanc says, your travel expenses and tolls don't change anything - like food shopping and bills they are just something that you have to put up with paying from what you have after all taxes and benefits are sorted.

Well that may be so but as a single parent £11000 out of pocket expenses thats after tax then they want £3500 back stinks i am having to go bankrupt because i can not afford to pay them back ......heres what i can not understand is if you can get tax relief For washing your overalls .why cant they offset my exies its not that i am looking for a rebate i just have not got £3500 to pay them back.

No tax relief is available for childcare outside of schemes such as childcare vouchers. It does suck but there you go.

And in reply insanc.. i could not get an ofsted registered child minder to work a 10 hour night which means surely i am bieng discriminated against ....

Be very careful going bankrupt due to money owed to the government.

I am no expert, but it was my understanding that it is not affected by bankruptcy, and therefore you'll still owe the debt.

It may be the case that if you go bankrupt they will not pursue you for the £3500 but they will recover it from future benefits payments of any type - it's complicated and very nuanced, though, so you need legal advice that is experienced in this area.

From the sound of it you're lucky your not in more trouble/debt.

If the friends daughter is looking after your children only, at hours dictated by you and is not Ofsted registered as a childminder she may well be considered a nanny. Nannies are employees and need to be paid NMW (which is considerably more than £125 a week). Plus you need to pay their tax and NI and employers NI. You could be facing a big fine and legal action.

Childcare is never a business expense

And would £25 a night not be below the national minimum wage. And in any case childcare is not usually a claimable expense under UK tax laws.

Troo you need to negotiate a monthly payment with them. I sympathise with your lone parent/childcare situation but if she wasn't oftsed registered I'm afraid you do have to pay the money back. Don't ignore this, give them a ring and ask how you can pay it back in small chunks.

For future, you either need to find a registered childminder, change the hours you work or change where you work.

You are not being discriminated against. You have the option to work different hours

What exactly are you being asked to pay back? Is this tax credits which you have claimed but under reported income due to believing you could offset expenses that you have now found out you can't?

Childcare and travel to and from work aren't business expenses. Did you ask any CMs? I work nights and so does another local cm I know. It would cost you loads more than £125 per week though.

I agree with asking to repay monthly over a period of time. They can be quite reasonable if you ask.

Sorry meant to say your normal place of work

I am sorry but it is very clear when you apply for WTC that you have to use an Ofsted Registered Childcarer. A childminder will to this, not all but some will but it would have cost you a lot more than £25 a night and frankly I find that an insult to a babysitter. A babysitter for the evening is normally at least £5 an hour. I suspect you knew this and now you have been caught. £125 per week for the baby sitter works out at only £5875 per year allowing for 4 weeks holiday and the bank holidays, in fact a little less than that. Your petrol costs are roughly £2,000 per year and your toll for the Dartford Crossing as a local resident is £20 per year for unlimited crossing, or if you pay standard fee of £2.50 each way that would be £1160 per year so nothing like £11,000.

If you had used a register carer you would have been able to get the low earnings Tax credits if not then you can get up to £243 per month in Childcare Vouchers through salary sacrifice. There is a new system coming in in the Autumn to replace both of these woth a Txa free government account for childcare.

I meant to say as well. You would have been asked for the Childcarer's URN and usually a copy of your contract when you apply so how did you do that if you have now been overpaid Tax Credits did you sign up with someone and not use them but continue to use their information and then come unstuck because you couldn't provide the receipts?

Op what expenses exactly do you think you could claim back? I find your post confusing.

If you found somebody to do it for £25 a night consider yourself lucky. You'd pay a lot more for registered care during the night.

Well well well thanks for all of comments keep them coming please try to keep to tbe thread .

There are very few registered providers who offer overnight care. So I am not surprised you could not find anyone.
Government will only pay towards registered or approved care and that is made clear on application forms for tax credits/childcare grant. So if a false claim was made, then they will recover the overpayment.

Nannies (which is what I think you have?) can be Oftsed registered and paid using childcare vouchers, but you need to register as an employer/do everything above board.

This is a complete joke.

Really TROOBLUE1878???
Well well well thanks for all of comments keep them coming please try to keep to tbe thread .

You haven't clarified the information in your very confusing First post. I think you are a joke. You knew exactly what you were doing and now you are majorly peed because you have been caught and have now got to pay lots of money back. Because of people like you many deserving people don't get the help they need. Get over it and pay back your debt.

"Well well well thanks for all of comments keep them coming please try to keep to tbe thread."

There is no need to be snippy, just because you haven't got the answers you want, Troo.

£25 a night? Is that legal? Must be under minimum wage.

Im a CM and have just finished a 12 hour overnight.... I have another lined up for tonight.

So yes.. we do exist, though rare. However... Its not usually the kids that put me off having them overnight. Its the parents!

I charge more than £25 per night, but not much more than minimum wage!