Messed up with food claims

[BlondeMoment]

Hi everyone
I've been claiming £5 per day per child for food, for the past two years regardless of whether they just stay for lunch or whether they have tea too. I worked it out as an average. I recently put this up to £5.50 due to rising costs etc.
I think I need to look again at this as have come up with £120 claim for one week (I been looking after 5 extra siblings). My shopping bill for that week was only £80! They only stay for lunch. I def need to change it to just cover lunchtimes but does this mean I have to backtrack all my accounts for the last two years?!!??
Panicking now cos I've got in a right muddle
Any help would be appreciated.
Lisa x

[madmamma]

By rights, I think you should do an adjustment in your tax return, however....
I personally would just do last years if I hadn't submitted already, and from april of this year

I have separate costings for breakfast, dinner, and tea, and allocate the relevant costings to each child. I then review my costings every 2 or 3 months. Yes it's a pain, but it keeps me happy

Edit: You said your shopping bill was only £80 but do you do 'top ups' from the local shop, treaty stuff etc? Don't forget to add that on, and you may surprise yourself at just how much you ARE spending

[mr man]

I charge 50p breakfast, 1.50 cold lunch and 2.50 for hot ome cooked meal. Snacks are 50p.

In my diary each day, I tally mark the time 8.00 with how ever many had breakfast, and 12pm with lunch.....and so on.
Not hard to remember .

The it's all in my diary to transfer to spread sheet which has the formulas to work out and calculate .

All receipts are inside each week, I highlight anything that is cm only, and end of month, do it all and the file them .

Whe I found this my best way, I back tracked using my register, only had a yeAr and a bit to do though. Very time consuming but wroth it. x

[jumpinjen]

Oops! I just claim food costs straight from receipts now - I got in a muddle years ago with meal amounts so I highlight the food I use on the receipts and claim that now - Did they eat other food during the day such as snacks etc to claim also? Did you use frozen food you already had to calculate?

Hope you get it sorted, Jen x

[Chatterbox Childcare]

Oops! I just claim food costs straight from receipts now - I got in a muddle years ago with meal amounts so I highlight the food I use on the receipts and claim that now - Did they eat other food during the day such as snacks etc to claim also? Did you use frozen food you already had to calculate?

Hope you get it sorted, Jen x

Me too - actual costs are much easier and up to date when prices rise

[babs]

i do 50p for breakfast, £1 for lunch and £1.50 for dinnner under 4s over4s £2 50p on all snacks so most work out at £4 aday per child.. £2.50 for schoolers

[~Grasshopper~]

i was thinking about this today,

i dont do tea and lunch is normally a sandwich or soup. i put through £10 a week per child as thats what we were told was about right as per our pre reg course.

its the same as the local school dinner price.

its for cereal, 2 snacks and lunch + fruit and drinks for 5 days ~ maybe im under charging. i need to sit down and work out the actual costs.

x

[Paulab]

I cost it out at £1 for breakfast , £1.50 for lunch (sandwich fruit yoghurt Type of thing) & £2 for dinner (cooked meal)

I did this inline with local schools breakfast club & school meal charges

I couldn't cope with going through every reciept highlighting, I have a teenager that inhales food so we end up shopping a few times a week x

[babs]

i was thinking about this today,

i dont do tea and lunch is normally a sandwich or soup. i put through £10 a week per child as thats what we were told was about right as per our pre reg course.

its the same as the local school dinner price.

its for cereal, 2 snacks and lunch + fruit and drinks for 5 days ~ maybe im under charging. i need to sit down and work out the actual costs.

x

i spend at least double that just on fruit a week.. then add in bread/wraps and fillings and salad etc.. local school to me charges £2.50 for school lunch and they have to take in 50p a day for snacks which in reception is only milk/water and slice toast some days they get to pick one piece of fruit. so in school works out at £3.00 aday without breakfast and evenng meal.

[hectors house]

I write in my NCMA register L for lunch and T for tea beside each child (when I call the register, I make a game of it and ask each child if they are staying for lunch and tea) - each week for my accounts I add up the number of lunches and teas and write ? x £2 and then add up how many children I have had over week and write ? x £1 for snacks which I feel a bit naughty about as sometimes we have snack at toddlers but I can't be bothered to factor that in as well.

I charge the same for tea as I do lunch, as products like ham and cheese for sandwiches can be more expensive then the mince for a whole bolognese! And it used to be cheaper to make own cakes but not so sure now.

[Kiddleywinks]

I have a teenager that inhales food so we end up shopping a few times a week x

I have one of them

[BlondeMoment]

I cost it out at £1 for breakfast , £1.50 for lunch (sandwich fruit yoghurt Type of thing) & £2 for dinner (cooked meal)

I did this inline with local schools breakfast club & school meal charges

I couldn't cope with going through every reciept highlighting, I have a teenager that inhales food so we end up shopping a few times a week x

That's really funny!

[BlondeMoment]

Thanks everyone. I've looked at what you all do and I've had a bit of a think.
I'm going to back track as far as April this year and charge 2.60 for lunch and 2.60 for dinner.

I agree 'hectors house' that lunch can be just as expensive as tea. I buy little cheese snacks, yoghurts, cheese, ham, marmite etc and they all absolutely love a few Pom Bears scattered with their sandwiches. All adds up. With a fruit snack in the morning and a biscuit snack in the afternoon I think 2.50 should work.

My husband also stuffs his face with just about anything he finds in the fridge and I usually cook for us exactly what I cook for them to keep things easy so I can't really cost individual items from the shopping list.

Thanks everyone for your help x x x

[BlondeMoment]

I have one of them

I have a husband like it! And my sister whenever she comes round lol

[Babycat]

Oops! I just claim food costs straight from receipts now - I got in a muddle years ago with meal amounts so I highlight the food I use on the receipts and claim that now - Did they eat other food during the day such as snacks etc to claim also? Did you use frozen food you already had to calculate?

Hope you get it sorted, Jen x

I do exactly the same Easier for me. x

[Twinkle star]

Just reading through threads and i didn't realise you can claim money back for food and other things. I thought that whatever i earn, the food bill water bill etc would all come out of my wages.

Gosh there is so much information to learn. Got my pre reg meeting tonight so hopefully i will be a little clearer on things x

[dette]

Just reading through threads and i didn't realise you can claim money back for food and other things. I thought that whatever i earn, the food bill water bill etc would all come out of my wages.

Gosh there is so much information to learn. Got my pre reg meeting tonight so hopefully i will be a little clearer on things x

You dont "claim it back" ....expenses get taken off the total earned so you dont pay tax on that portion if you earn over your tax free allowance.
It would be lovely if we got it back but we dont ..

[Twinkle star]

Ahhh right, so the total you earn in a year, you then keep a log of all the costs for shopping, water, electric etc and take that off, then you find out how much tax you owe on whats left?

[mum24]

I thought that we could not charge for snacks - I am sure I read this somewhere, but cant remember where at the moment.
I charge for other meals and tot it up at the end of the month, pretty much as many others, and I do charge if I buy something special for a treat.
I haven't been charging though for all the fruit we go through in a day, sometimes quite a bit as they eat that mid morning and then when we get in from schol run.
I will have to go back and re do my sums

[MrAnchovy]

You can charge (i.e. send parents a bill) for whatever you want*, but that is not what we are talking about here, we are talking about including the cost of snacks in the allowable expenses you deduct from your income to arrive at your profit which you pay tax and class 4 NI on (if it is over the thresholds). This is commonly called 'claiming' but as dette pointed out this is not really the right word either. The cost of snacks, food, nappies, wipes and anything else used up caring for children you are paid to look after are all allowable expenses, although if part of the things you buy is consumed by your own family you cannot claim for that part.

Note that the amount you charge parents for these items, if any, does not have to be the same amount that it costs you, but the amount you include in expenses must be (the correct share of) the cost.



* actually that's not true, for instance you can't charge parents for using your car to take children to and from school unless you and the car are licensed for hire or reward