30 hours free childcare when working in a school

[Jtd89]

Hi, looking for advice. I work in a school 15 hours a week and paid above NLW, if I look at my weekly pay it is in excess of the £183 per week needed for 30 hours free childcare. However as I only get paid for 38 weeks my annual salary doesn't equate to the £9518 per year as I don't get paid for all the holidays. Is anyone in the same situation that has managed to claim the 30 hours free childcare and can provide any advice. Obviously I work in school time so have to put my children in to childcare term time, however not getting the 30 hrs free means that my wages are going straight out on childcare and means there is no financial benefit to me working. Any advice on this?

You claim it per quarter so if you meet the criteria that quarter you can claim

Unfortunately my pay is paid pro rata so split over the 12 months so when you look at it in that way I don't meet the criteria. However for the weeks of the year I work (39 weeks) my pay is over the threshold - 15 hours x £15 /hour = 225 / week, but as I only get paid for 39 weeks and my payments are spread over 52 weeks of the year I get under £9000 a year - which is under the threshold) that's why I'm struggling to see how it works (on one criteria I meet the requirements on another I don't). So my thoughts are I should be able to claim but don't want to be fined for claiming incorrectly. Thanks

Given that you're so close to the threshold, is it worth talking to the school to see if you can pick up some lunch duties or something like that.

The most obvious suggestion is to ask the school for more hours - presumably you are able to work more if your kids are in childcare for almost twice as long as you’re working? However, school budgets being tight they may not be able to afford more hours. Worth asking though and seeing if you can be given first refusal on extra hours eg for school trips or covering sickness. Given you’re so close, could you get another job for a week in the summer or something - that might tip you over the minimum earnings threshold? Or a bar job one evening a week for a few months?

Work more hours then?

How many extra hours a week would you need to make the 9518? Rough maths with guesses on my behalf suggests an extra 2 a week. Any way you could add in a duty for 40 mins a day?? Lunch I guess.
I think it's the total pay per year that is important, not the hourly wage (so if you earnt 1000 an hour, you'd actually only need 10 hours a year!!!!)