Gateway account hell. please help me find my sanity!

[bangingmyheadoffabrickwall]

Can anyone shed any light or advice regarding this new tax free childcare?

I have set up an account for my eldest child with no problems. Our standing order is set up for our monies to go straight into the account.

Sadly they didn't recognise my youngest child (despite having a birth certificate and passport ) and said in the 'messages box' that they would get back to me in 7 days likewise regarding her 30 hours which is sue to begin in April (my friend has got her code for her son's 30 hours which starts in April too - so I am not early for this).

I am still waiting 13 days later for confirmation, even a bloody message.

My childcare provider assures me she is registered and another parent who was standing next to me during this discussion also assured me that she is registered because she (the parent) was part of the trial and pays her every month using this service.

My childcare provider gave me her full name (I also have her business name, plus I have her OFSTED number and her postcode - all things I can use to search for her and every.single.one.does.NOT.work.

Am I doing anything wrong apart from expecting a decent service from the government or is everyone else having to ring up the helpdesk with the hope someone actually knows what they are doing.

Happy to be wrong and someone point me in the right direction but I a at the point where I want to scream.

any thanks!

So what can you do... can you log in to your online account? Can you access the secure messages? Have you called the helpline to escalate the 'child not found' issue?

For the child you do have listed on your account, what are you trying to use, Tax-Free Childcare or 30-hours childcare, or both?
Have you managed to add your childcare provider - what sort of provider are they... by the sounds of it they may be a Childminder?
Have you searched for provider using: PROVIDEROFSTEDURNPROVIDERPOSTCODE
Example: EY123456 GU123AB

When you click on Add Childcare Provider, what happens next? I would love to see a screenshot of the sequence that follows that button being clicked, as it does seem to cause a lot of problems in adding some types of provider (Childminders and Nannies). So would love it if you could post a screenshot.

My childcare provider is there! I had to use the postcode and her OFSTED number with a space between! Her name and company name and address simply didn't flag her up!

As for my daughter's applications - BOTH have 'technical problems' with them so I am rechecking tomorrow (gave them a week).

Did you do two applications for your daughter? Separate for 30 hours and tfc?

You're not meant to, to be clear. I accidentally did and it screwed things up for about a month. They're v helpful if you do end up ringing them.

I did both as that was the options that came up. Both have 'technical problems'.

Well just checked my messages online and as suspected NOTHING!

They said they would pass it on to their technical team and I gave them a week to phone me or send me a message via their system and there is absolutely nothing there.

My DS's account is working - money has gone out into his account ready to go to the CM.

Definitely NOT helpful IMO.

I send feedback everytime which is actually just there for show - obviously.