Will my tax credits go up if I do this?

[Abirdinthehand]

Dh works full time, I work 7hours per week. We currently pay for no childcare, we have ds in preschool for 12 hrs and ds2 at home - he is 1. If I get a childminder for ds2 about 4 hours per week would we be likely to get some extra child tax credit? Or would it not count as I work less than 16 hours?

I don't think it would count, the cut off for childcare element is 16 hours + with both parents working or 16+ if a single parent IIRC.

Thank you - I thought it wouldn't count, but wanted to check!

I may be wrong, you can call them and ask.

Yes (just looked it up to check): if you're in a couple, you can only get tax credits paid for childcare if you are both working at least 16 hours or if one is working at least 16 hours and the other is 'incapacitated'.

However - people on statutory maternity leave count as if they are still working the same number of hours as before they went on leave, so couples may be able to claim for childcare costs if one partner is working over 16 hours and the other on maternity leave doing no paid work.

Thanks both.

I think the rules about hours are changing after April.

see this

Hmm, thank you - it's hard to know from that link if we will be better or worse off, as we fall right on the edge of a lot of the boundaries. And we're expecting another child in August. Interesting! Will certainly miss our tax credits if they stop altogether!