lone parent childminders

[BabyBaby123]

hi - can anyone tell me what the maximum you are allowed to earn as a childminder is without if effecting your entitelment to income support - job centre don't seem to know

Thanks

I would suppose £15 (or whatever it is now) the same as you are allowed to earn in any other job? Have no specific knowledge though

Believe its the first 20 quid of any money you earn now, but that includes CSA payments as well so if you're 'lucky' and the CSA actually managed to get you anything then the first 20 quid will come out of that leaving all your earned income .. might be worthwhile phoning tax credits and asking them, cos you maybe earn enough and do enough hours to qualify for WTC and child TC, you would prob be better off.

Ok, thanks

Childminding is ideal for single parents the job is one of about three ithink including the fire service which allows people on income support and tax credits to earn more than the usual 20 pounds .Some people in job centres dont seem to know `! There is a difference in the way your income is assesed and so much is disregarded .You should be able to check it out with a lone parent advisor although you might have to tell the advisor first there is a special arrangement in place for childminders !!!!

I am a single mum of 2 and i am a childminder, i make a good income and also get child tax credits, working tax credits and housing benefit.

Trying to remember - not sure if I remember exactly, but for a period back in 2000 my dh and I split and I was living alone and as a chilminder working more than 16 hours a week I could claim Working Families Tax Credit and I'm pretty sure I was able to discount 75% of my earnings. I was working 20 hours a week with only 2 children (so was on a fairly low amount) and was able to claim the full amount of WFTC.

Not sure if my % are accurate (and of course things may well have changed since 2000) but there were definitely different rules about earnings from childminding.

I'm sure I read on here the other week that you can keep £20 of the CSA money and £20 of any money you earned?

2/3 of your earnings are disregarded. Of the 1/3 that's left, you can take off the usual £20 disregard and that's the amount the job centre will take into account when calculating your benefits.

eg. if your CM earnings are £210 (because it divides by 3 easily and my brain is tired!!) they will disregard £160 (2/3 + £20) so the £50 left will come off your benefit £ for £.

Have I explained it in a way that makes sense?