advice re tax credit

[jadavi]

How does tax credit work when there'e a variation in the week's fee?

I thought I would contract a mum for her minimum hours a week she needs me (2 shifts) but how does she/I claim for the weeks that are more hours than we have contracted with the tax credit people?
I dont really understand how the system works sorry.... Can she submit an extra fee from week to week? She doesn't know either.....

help much appreciated ,.....cheers
jac

[macjade01]

How about working it out over the 52 weeks adn charge her the same every week... thats if you know average what extra hrs she will need you xxx

[sarah707]

They don't like making changes unless the amount goes up or down quite a lot for a long period.

When I was working out sessions for 1 mum she needed to give them a total amount for the year including taking account of school holiday weeks - that seemed to keep them happy!

Hth

[sharonmanc]

when payign my old childminder when i was teaching ,we divided the yearly total byt 52, so i could give a weekly price to tax credits, I actually payed her this weekly total, but if a person leaves mid year this coudl leave you out of pocket, so your mindees parent could for tax credits average it for the year, but pay you for what hours she uses weekly

[lolli_pop243]

They usually ask for a weekly amount- so you both need to know what that amounts to. In my job I work Saturdays so I had to work out the school term pricing, the Saturday pricing and the holiday pricing and averaged it over 52 weeks. I kept a copy of it and gave my childminder a copy once we agreed it was right. Tax credit is paid either weekly or monthly depending on individual choice.

I started with my CM mid year so I calculated the number of weeks left to the end of the tac year, the hours I would be using her in that period and paid her that weekly amount. That way she always had money coming in and she knew that by the end of the year she would have what she was due.

Hope this helps. .......

[Erika]

If she is using the childcare throughout the year, tax credit advise to add the whole amount of childcare she will pay for the year, and divide it by 52 to give them her average weekly costs. They will then pay her the same amount each week based on the average costs.

Working it out - childcare costs

[jadavi]

Thanks. so do we have to guess her extra shifts? What if it's more or less?

[lolli_pop243]

I think it might be best if she calls them to ask. As far as I know, once you have given an estimated cost, unless the price increase means you would be paying more than £10 extra a week, they will not do anything about it.