does anyone know anything about childcare and tax credits?

[mothersmilk]

basically i am going to have to put my ds into childcare 3 mornings a week once dd has started full time school (april) will i be entitled to help funding this? i will only need child care term time and the nursery needs to be paid in full every term will this make it difficult? lots of questions but if anyone can help me i would really apprieciate it

Depends on lots of factors, the hours you and your partner work, the household income etc.

There is lots of help available, which makes it confusing, and the coalition government are changing it all anyway which makes it worse.

If your nursery/minder will sign up and agree to receive childcare vouchers, and either you or your DP will agree to make a 'salary sacrifice' (and your employer will sign up for you to do this), you can get the tax back on the childcare fees you are paying. Compushare vouchers are the ones we use, their website may have some answers for you. Doesn't sound like much? We were getting £50 per month back on a £230 childcare voucher. It was great - the only way of persuading DP that he should pay for the half of childcare cover he wasn't delivering (I was working part time and doing my share myself. He still wanted me to do it, until I made him understand there was no point as I didn't earn enough to pay tax so couldn't claim tax back!)