Claiming nursery fee's back from universal credit?

[shuz1980]

Does any one get uc and claim nursery fee's? I need some advice.

Hi, when I was a childminder, the family had to pay their bill in full, I would give them a receipt and they used that to send to UC to claim back the fees.

Yes I do and have done for two years now. I claim the full £1,108 per month from UC for nursery.
Can I help you?

Thanks @Apple40 @Pinetreesfall does the amount i claim back affect my uc award. So say i get £1000 a month uc and my child care cost are £500. Will i get the £500 without the £1000 been affected. I know uc caps after a set amount so just wondering if they take paying nursery fees into consideration when capping payments. Just trying to figure out if its worth me returning to work after maternity.

Hi @shuz1980
I think you may be confusing the benefit cap with the childcare element of UC.
In order to lift the benefit cap you need to earn over £617 a month for you not to get capped.
I am assuming that you have one child is that right?
Your childcare needs to be proportionate up hours worked - so for example you would struggle to claim 40 hours childcare if you just worked 5 hours a week.
85% of your childcare costs used (i.e childcare that has already taken place) in your assessment period will be added to your award. This works well if you pay your childcare in arrears but not so great if you have to pay upfront as it takes a while to get back.
So e.g. 85% of £500 would be £425 added to your overall statement. No element is protected in UC so although it will up your total award if you say worked 80 hours in one month and earnt lots more then obviously your award would go down as your wages would be higher.
I hope I have explained this ok...there is a really good Facebook group (who are now a registered charity) called Universal Credit Essentials. I would join the group as it has helped me a lot....plus I'm a bit of a geek and have read all the UC legislation haha

@Pinetreesfall thank you. I get it now. It was just all going straight over my head.