Why dont tax credits pay us direct!!!!

[pinkbutterfly]

You should be filling out benefit fraud forms instead of ringing Tax Credits. You all have enough information ie ... their name, full address ... number of children and ages and your Ofsted registration number. No Sherlock Holmes is needed ... they'll just type the info into their system and it will pop up if they are still claiming with your number. They WILL deal with it. But of course everything is confidential so you will not know unless the benefit fraud people ring you up to check if you still care for their children.
http://campaigns.dwp.gov.uk/campaigns/benefit-thieves/

[KAREN K`S]

Hi LittleStar's;
Just read your message ive got Parents who now owe me £1.760 they keep blaming tax credits so rung TC today they were about as helpful as a chocolate teapot. How can they seriously believe all parents will pay us? The goverment moan about people frauding them and getting caught but do nothing when we call them to report parents who are not coughing up their fees. From what I can read betwwen the lines of my parents excuses they have received 3 payments (£3150) ive received £370. I`m as angry as hell with TC. I 100% agree with sending David Cameron a petition from all us childminders and if I knew what to do I would start it off myself.

Karen K`s

[charlie potato]

I'm with pink butterfly on this. Ring Fraud hotline and not tc. A family can claim help for childcare if only one parent is working in certain circumstances such as illness. Childcare section of ctc is paid in arrears to a parent and a parent is obliged to contact them if payments increase or decrease by more than £10 a week let alone if childcare has stopped. xx

[Millenium]

I do not think it a good idea for childminders to receive a parent's benefits as a direct payment. The responsibility rests with the parent to pay so if there was a delay in payment from "offialdom", it would not be easy to lauch a claim to get your money.

Having been caught out once in ten years, all my mindees are now paying monthly in advance, cash or vouchers. If they pay by cheque, I require the cheque 5 clear working days in advance of the month end to give it a chance to clear. If I do not get my money, they don't step through my door on the 1st of the month - its quite simple. You can't get other services without having paid for them so why should a childminding service be any different. I have 2 friends who work in two different local nurseries and they do not seem to experience the "bad-debt" problems that so many childminders seem to be beset with - are we seen as an easy ride???

I have also become quite choosy in only agreeing to take children where my gut instinct tells me that their payments to me will not be dependent on benefit payments. It sounds harsh but I refuse to be messed around.

[Bendalina]

I wrote to my local MP after a childminding colleague was ripped off by 2 individual parents to the tune of £3000 in non payment of fees. Even though they both were in receipt of the full help from tax credits. Therefore as far as I was concerned they had committed theft as well as fraud. My MP contacted Michael Gove the minister for education the dept which has replaced the DFES. He forwarded the complaint on and I was advised by another government minister to report these parents. My colleage was reluctant to do so as when she took legal action one of the parents reported her to Ofsted for everything short of child abuse!!!! (something which ofsted threw out off the window after an investigation) She was worried about retaliation from these less than savoury parents.

so what to do?
Petition your MP. Mention that other MPs will have been contacted. David Cameron wants to reduce fraud its a big thing for the coalition government so take action and get involved.

Good Luck!