Tax Credits, your opinions and experiences?

**yummymummy** · 10-02-2010, 02:01 PM

In all the time I have been childminding to my knowledge only 2 families have claimed them.
One was over 10 years ago and we had to renew the details every year with both me and the family filling out a form of hours and cost etc.
The other one was about 4 years ago and 18 months after the lady left I get a letter from Tax Credits asking for details of the costs! The letter detailed the lady's name as being different to how she was known to me, I called them and she was still claiming as me having the children, even though she used another childminder after me and then within a few months lost her job too! But to be honest they didn't really seem that interested in what I told them, although I suppose just by the fact they sent me a letter must mean they were onto something.
It does worry me that the Inland Revenue administer the income tax we pay and the Tax Credits system so there must be a matching up system which would flag up the fact they we in cases like this are earning far more than we state but we are not in fact. We have just had the misfortune to deal with a dishonest person! It would also seem that should the Inland Revenue pick up on this the onus would be on us to prove we didn't provide care and income, although obviously we would have records to back us up.
Would be interested in other views and experiences of the current Tax Credit system.

**sandy64** · 10-02-2010, 02:20 PM

hi yes i no what you mean i had a parent a few yrs ago i looked after 1 of her children but she claimed for 3 kids i found out when tax credit wrote to me checking id also stopped having lo but she was still claiming it did worry me as meant i shud of been earning much more than id declared but tax credit said they cant do anythink about it, doesnt seem fare does it ive also heard from other cm parents sign on with a cm claim child care etc then terminate contract?

**sarah707** · 10-02-2010, 06:27 PM

Quite a few of my parents use tax credits. I have no idea if they are claiming illegally.

I have heard of people over claiming or claiming after the children have left.

Like Sandy I have heard of people getting registration numbers so they can claim too.

There's little we can do about it unless the system is changed and they give the money directly to the childminder... and I can't see that happening.

**Pudding Girl** · 10-02-2010, 07:04 PM

Is it not under discussion this year though, direct payments to childcare providers? They can do it for Housing Benefit so why not this?

**funfunfun** · 10-02-2010, 07:22 PM

Im sure they can do this already .........the payment can be made to either cm or the parent is that not right

**beccas** · 10-02-2010, 07:25 PM

hi i have a parent who claimed lastyear even though i didnt have her lo's but now they have caught up with her and could face a penalty will find out more tomorrow when she visits me.....

but i am sure almost all my parents claim more than they should.

but when you contact tc they say they can do anything due to data protection

**berkschick** · 10-02-2010, 07:27 PM

No themoney can not come direct to the childminder at the moment only direct to the parent.

The system is very easy to abuse, we should have to sign something to confirm the childcare fees.

**newandlearning** · 10-02-2010, 07:35 PM

I agree that the system just seems a bit too easy to abuse... and on all those little occasions where maybe you start of minding a LO for a whole week and this is reduced down by parent.. who's to say that the parent still doesn't claim the whole amt?? I'm surprised that the tax credit dept don't do more checks on the cm's the tc dept must lose soo much money unnecessarily.

**Lou** · 10-02-2010, 08:59 PM

Whilst I agree that there are flaws in the system, and it can be abused, I dont think paying childminders directly is the answer.

That would also bring problems. Imagine you take on a child, and there is a problem at the tax credit office, back log or something and you dont get the money for a while...you would have to look after the child with no payment. Or the opposite you are caring for a child, and they leave or there is a mix up with dates and you end up having to pay money back.

As the OP said years ago, you had to sign a form with hours and payment etc on it....not sure why they dont still do that?

**berkschick** · 10-02-2010, 09:10 PM

I think the parents should have to send the tax office a copy of the contract to prove the hours and fees

**Mouse** · 10-02-2010, 09:10 PM

Years ago, when we had to sign the claim form, I was caught out when I gave all my details and signed the form at the initial visit, then didn't see the parent or child again! I found out that they'd only come to see me to get my number as they'd done it to several other cms. Tax credits paid out for 6 months regardless, so every 6 months this parent was going to a different cm to get their details. Tax credits seemed to know, but did nothing about it!

After that I said I would only sign the forms once the child had actually started with me, though I didn't ever actually get another parent who claimed tax credits.

I knew of one cm though who would sign the forms once the parents had paid a £50 deposit. She said she wasn't bothered if they ever came back or not, at least she'd got some money out of it

**nikim** · 10-02-2010, 09:36 PM

i have a parent who pays me £50 a week through the school holidays only ,they overpaid mum then told told her i wasnt charging her enough?????

**miffy** · 10-02-2010, 09:42 PM

Originally Posted by Mouse

I knew of one cm though who would sign the forms once the parents had paid a £50 deposit. She said she wasn't bothered if they ever came back or not, at least she'd got some money out of it

Miffy xx

**Desi-101** · 10-02-2010, 10:15 PM

I'm new to minding but reading things like this makes me wary, I think I will be monitoring my registration number and if a mindee leaves will check that tax credits are not being claimed on my registration number!!

**Jessicasmummy** · 10-02-2010, 10:37 PM

I had a call last week from TC about a parent that had been claiming childcare under my registration number. I signed a contract with her last may for occasional care, as and when she needed me (her child was 10 so didnt affect my numbers) I only ended up having him for one afternoon. TC were asking what her weekly bill is etc so it was clear she was still claiming. Unbelievably she has now txt me to ask if I will tell TC ive had her children more often if she gives me some cash!!!!!!! I told her no chance! What a cheek hey.

Just shows how easy it is to scam the system. I wonder exactly just how much money she has made for nothing!

**kimberley123** · 10-02-2010, 10:49 PM

hi yep its silly aint it!! gets u mad
tax credits they should phone really but they only ring when they have a problem
do you normally have to sign something? how comes they rang you to say she ended the claim ?? arghh mad hey!

**Mouse** · 10-02-2010, 11:11 PM

Originally Posted by Jessicasmummy

I had a call last week from TC about a parent that had been claiming childcare under my registration number. I signed a contract with her last may for occasional care, as and when she needed me (her child was 10 so didnt affect my numbers) I only ended up having him for one afternoon. TC were asking what her weekly bill is etc so it was clear she was still claiming. Unbelievably she has now txt me to ask if I will tell TC ive had her children more often if she gives me some cash!!!!!!! I told her no chance! What a cheek hey.

Just shows how easy it is to scam the system. I wonder exactly just how much money she has made for nothing!

That's awful!!

I really don't see why TC can't write to us everytime someone starts a claim. Surely it would be cheaper to put a system in place and employ extra staff than it is to pay out on all these false claims. In all the years I've been minding I've been contacted once to ask what a parent was paying.

**kimberley123** · 10-02-2010, 11:25 PM

Originally Posted by Mouse

That's awful!!

I really don't see why TC can't write to us everytime someone starts a claim. Surely it would be cheaper to put a system in place and employ extra staff than it is to pay out on all these false claims. In all the years I've been minding I've been contacted once to ask what a parent was paying.

i know what u mean!!!
when u said you been contacted once is that when they leave or start or only had it once you mean? its bad really but people get away with it i suppose arghhh lol.!
the whole time you been childming mouse you only ever had one parant cliaming tax crtedits? x

**daisyboo1980** · 11-02-2010, 09:01 AM

over here in northern ireland we dont get a reg number so all a parent has to do is phone and say their childminders name and address and the social service board they are reg but a social worker has told me they never phone them to check whether the childminder is actually reg
i have a few parent claiming and ive had no contact with the working tax office

**WibbleWobble** · 11-02-2010, 10:23 AM

i claimed tax credits about 10 years ago...when it first came about i think.
DD#2 was at an after school club.

In my misty memory i had to fill in a form and give it to the after school club to fill in their details...they checked it and off the form went.

Dont know if just dreamed that though....i am having a lot of those recently. Last night i dreamed i had a little boy of about 6 in the back of the car and couldnt get the seat belt round him....every time i got it on it was round his neck! is this an omen..i dont have any LOs of that age!

mandy x