child care element tax credits

[lillups]

hi there does any one know if everyone is entitled to help with childcare costs? on my tax credits award form it says me and my partner aren't entitled to working tax credit joint income last year was 40000 but it will be less this year as i will be going part time. so if you arent entitled to working tax credit does that mean you dont qualify for help with child care costs aswell? not going back to work for a while but like to get child care sorted. have checked website but cant find an answer not one that i understand anyway!

I think you get some help with childcare costs if you get the child tax credit. But then it's reduced by your income. Got a statement through with our income, etc, it said we were entitled to about £500 but then was all deducted due to our income, which was over 40000 last year ... so perhaps on less? They don't seem to be able to give you a straight answer, I phoned to ask last week. Keep me posted if you get anywhere!

you both have to be working 16 hours of more per week. If you both are working those hours and have a registered provider then you should get some help even if you do not get WTC. You're right, they don't make this very clear at all.

What we got was a pittance though compared to what we had to pay out so might be an idea to ring the helpline, give them an idea of what you expect your circumstances to be then see what they say.

wow that was quick yea thats what it said an amount cant remember exact amount then same amount deducted due to income !! why bother mentioning it just to deduct it . so they didn't actually say if you would get help or not? how rubbish yea il ring them next week il let you know !

we both work 16 hours +, hence the over 40000 last year. Are you getting some child tax credit already? If so it's a quick call to tell them you're child care costs and they send you new calculation, but yes it's likely to say what you might get the deduct it all!!

Our local children's centre has a drop in centre once a week where they'll do you a 'better-off' calculation and tell you what you might get in different circumstances .. give them a ring if there is one.

We have 4 children and a joint salary of around £30k and we did get help with childcare cost (both working 16 hours or more) hmmmmmmm around 10% of what it cost!

yea he ll be doing full time and ill still have to do 30 hrs/week . i know its soooo expensive if we dont qualify will hardly be worth me going to work but cant afford not to either well anyway thanks for your reply bbm .

Cargirl - yes, we got £70 per year but it cost us 500pcm from what I remember .

Daisymo - that 'better off' calculator sounds good. Wish they had something like that here, although I fear we are part of the (relatively) silent majority who get pretty much bugger all.

check on www.entitledto.com...

that better off calculation sounds good , 10% god how can it say up to 80 % then in reality only get 10 i thought they were trying to encourage mums to go back to work etc but they dont make it easy. thankyou everyone for answering

the 80% thingy is misleading as well... as it is 80% of a maximum weekly limit, not 80% of your childcare costs. See WTC5 - Help With Costs Of Childcare leaflet from HMRC. For example, with 2 or more children, IF you had 80% award, then you could claim up to 80% of maximum of £300, which is £240.
WTC5 is worth a read, unlike a lot of HMRC stuff, this one is quite easy to read.