tax credit scam??

[Graciesstar]

Hi my son goes to a childminders and I told her I work term time. She's told me to tell tax credits I work full time and she will work out my payments over 52 weeks. She said she has to do this because tax credits will pay me over holidays and she's taxed on the money I'm paid because of her URN number from ofsted ( unique Ref Num). So I'm handing it all and paying out of my own pocket. Does this seem right? Also when I picked my son up in the week another parent who is a close friend to the childminder was changing my sons bum? I wasn't happy. Is this aloud? I've took my son out but she's demanding 4 weeks notice money. Sorry this is so long winded but please someone help so I know where I stand. Thanks in advance

Not right at all.

No to the tax credits & that could land you in trouble.
No to someone else changing your ds. That shouldn't be on. I'm not sure where you stand with the fees though... Would she technically be in a breach of contract?
Hopefully someone else will have advice re this

Yes I signed a contact, I feel like such a fool for believing her. I've rang the tax credits and closed the claim down. She is now at me to reinstate the claim so she can get the 4 weeks roll out money. I've told her no because I can't afford to pay her but now she's saying just pay her the tax credits money and not from my own pocket. All of it is really stressing me out, I need to man up lol

Thank you for your advice xx

No that's not right
She can't let anybody else change his nappy
That is a major safeguarding breach and she can't use assistants without telling you
That would be enough grounds to not pay the notice period
If she tries to get the notice paid just tell her you will report her to ofsted
In fact I would be tempted to report her anywhere just for the friend changing the nappy

Re the tax credits - it's fairly standard for you to give them an average weekly figure if you know it's going to change at certain times. Tax credits helpline told me I needed to give them a weekly figure and that if there were weeks where I didn't have childcare costs they would average it out for me.

I second the report to ofsted & tell her this is what your doing & that you will not be paying her

That is HMRC official advice. You should calculate your yearly costs and they will pay you weekly. It is then your responsibility to save the money when you're not using childcare to pay the bill when you do use it. Say you work 10 months per year and pay £100 per month, total £1000. You tell HMRC that your costs are £1000 per year. They will pay you £19.23 per week. So some months you will get £76 in tax credits but need to pay £100. For two months you won't need to pay anything but will still get £76. As long as your yearly cost is correct, you would be following HMRC advice.

WRT the nappy changing, that's absolutely unacceptable.

Yes definitely report to Ofsted. Very worrying xxx

No idea about tax credits, but totally agree that the nappy changing is not allowed and could get her closed down.