Hi, I (and my wife) applied for the 30 hours free childcare through the gov.uk website last year. I have been renewing/reconfirming the application details on the website every 3 months, as required. Last reconfirmation was in mid-January, but a couple of days ago, the HMRC have written to me saying the following: "Unfortunately, our checks have shown that you're no longer eligible for 30 hours free childcare for xxxxx because: • from the evidence we hold we have decided that you didn't have a reasonable expectation of your partner earning at least é ú1555.72 (no idea what the symbols mean!) between 15 January 2018 and 16 April 2018 However, you may still be able to access 30 hours free childcare for a short period, known as a grace period. You can check what your grace period arrangements are with your childcare provider. You can still access the 15 hour universal early education entitlement for 3 and 4 year olds. For information on eligibility, go to http://www.childcare-support.tax.service.gov.uk. What happens next Your childcare provider and local authority will be told that you no longer meet the requirements for 30 hours free childcare for xxxxx. If you don't agree with our decision Check the details you entered on your application are correct, you can do this in your childcare service account. If you entered the wrong information, and still want to apply for 30 hours free childcare, you can make a new application. However, if the information on your application was correct, and you've checked you meet the eligibility criteria, you can ask for the decision to be looked at again by requesting a Mandatory Review. You'll need to do this in writing within 30 days, and include: • your name, address and child's full name • reasons why you think our decision is wrong • the words 'Mandatory Review' in the title of your letter Send your letter to: The childcare service, HMRC, BX9 1GR We may ask you to supply original copies of evidence to support your Mandatory Review. If your Mandatory Review is rejected, you have the right of appeal to a tribunal. If your circumstances change Go to http://www.childcare-support.tax.service.gov.uk to reapply for 30 hours free childcare. Yours sincerely Childcare service team" I do not understand what has happened suddenly for them to reject it. My wife started working a contract job (by setting up her limited company) in November 2017. In the reconfirmation form on gov.uk, I have given her job as "Director of Own company", which if I remember correctly was from a drop-down list. Does anyone have an idea why this could be happening? Oh, and she earns more than £120 per week in her job and less than £100,000 per year.

Hi i recently spent 23 days in hospital as the main person who looked after my kids while my wife was at work i wasnt able too so our youngest was put into a day nursery. we had to pay the costs for a month up front ..and we attempted to claim some back i can claim for anytime i was in hospital care but not now i am home, problem is i am not well i had pneumonia severe case and sepsis i cant chase after a two year old for at least a month and it seems now i am home i cant claim childcare. they advised i try for any form on temp sickness benefit as i am unfit for work and i cant i tried cause i wasnt already working and my wife does work i am not entitled to claim.. seems quite a bad loop hole in the system i doubt as the hrmc tried to bypass the system but they couldnt that much can be done but childcare costs even for a short period will cripple us thankyou

68% of eligible two year olds in England are missing out on free childcare, which they're perfectly entitled to. Are you one of the parents missing out on this? Figures from the Department for Education show that huge numbers of kids are missing out on the free 15 hours of childcare per week, with estimates showing 78,552 in total. Of course, there's criteria you'll have to meet, but if you do, you really should utilise this. What Do You Need To Know? If you claim Jobseeker's Allowance, or similar, you could be eligible. Basically, funded education has been extended to include two-year-old children a while ago, but parents have failed to maximise the benefits of new rules for their kids, mainly because they're unaware they can do so. Your two-year-old can get free early education and childcare if you receive one of the following: Income Support Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Universal Credit Tax credits and you have an annual income of under £16,190 before tax The guaranteed element of State Pension Credit Support through Part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act The Working Tax Credit 4-week run-on Or, your child can qualify if any of these apply: A local council looks after them They have a current statement of special education needs (SEN) or an education, health and care (EHC) plan They get Disability Living Allowance They've left care under a special guardianship order, child arrangements order or adoption order To find out whether or not you're entitled to this free childcare, then you need to enter your postcode here on this government website. http://www.bitterwallet.com/freebies/are-you-missing-out-on-free-childcare-92561

Hello there. I may have got myself in a muddle. I claim £41/week for my child's care costs but in reality, the charges have gone up significantly. I haven't increased the claim as I have had help from my family and have managed, and most importantly, trying to get through my BA studies, single-parenting and a self-employed job, didn't leave me time to even think about a phone call or filling in new forms. So I left it. Now, I have a check, wanting me to provide 'any invoices/receipts/bank statements showing actual childcare providers from 6 April 2015 to 5 April 2016'. I have receipts for the amount of £1231.5 for the year. (£23.7/week - instead of £41/week, which I claimed) And, to mess things up further, my family paid £5862.18 for the year (£112.7/wk - which I didn't tell them about as I got help from my family for it). So I have actually paid heaps more for childcare than what I claimed for... I don't really know how to proceed. I think I've messed it right up... Any clues on how to resolve this would be hugely appreciated...

I have been looking into entitlements all day and I am just going round in circles. I could really do with some advice. The abolishment of the family element in housing benefit is my main worry. I don't know if it will affect me or not? I have a 2.5 year old and our second baby is due in May, and according to 'entitledto' we will be entitled to some housing benefit in 16/17. But I don't know if this will start after I have the baby, or when I go on maternity leave in April. Also, as mentioned above, I don't know whether the abolishment will affect the result I am getting. I know it only affects new claims after 1st May, so if I submit my claim in April when my maternity leave starts- will I be entitled to the family element? I am thinking I will still get it, because I already have a child and my circumstances are changing prior to 1st May. Now, it seems I will be entitled to more help (around an extra £70 a month) if I do not continue with my childcare vouchers through my employer. But I don't want to opt out of the scheme to find that the calculations were all wrong and I would have been better off with continuing with the childcare vouchers. Would it be possible to cancel the childcare vouchers once I've heard back regarding my claims? Anything else I need to consider? Thank you in advance!

Hi, I'm hoping someone can shed some light on this and just put me a bit more at ease! I received a letter as I see many people have the last few years asking for proof of all childcare payments from April 2013 - April 2014. I have got all this information but there will be some overpayment as my daughter changed nurseries April 2nd 2014 and my son got his free 15 hours as of April 28th 2014. I called many times to update but as with tax credits I was on hold 20-30 minutes at a time. I think my overpayment is around £1000. My question really is how soon after sending information off were claims changed? My only concern is they want this information by the end of this week and my next payment is due a week later. On my payment date I'm due to move house and am just worrying over not knowing exactly what money will be paid in on that day. Do they adjust your claim and immediately take repayments or write to you so you can arrange the repayment amount yourself? My children's father has just been made redundant as well so I am currently not getting any payments from him and cannot afford my income being cut down much in this current situation. Any advise or knowledge from experiences very welcome! Thank you

Hi I received a letter today saying my claim would now be handled by Childcare Management team and start saving childcare receipts bank statements and payslips I couldn't understand why as my childcare ceased in 2012 I have phoned HMRC and they said I am still claiming for childcare and have no record of me informing them of any change I have a scribble on apiece of paper with time and date of phone call but panicking now thinking I will end up being prosecuted I am due another baby in 7 weeks and really can't cope with the stress

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03zd3hx

Hi all, I may be being stupid here (!) but wanted to check. I had a previous thread couple days ago regarding compliance check letter for 2012-2013 about income. Rang them Monday, income adjusted, overpayment for last tax year which we are going to pay back. Also adjusted income for this tax year which means the childcare payments we have received since April we will have to pay back once we have confirmed earnings by way of our P60s in April next year. All of them, so that's all the money they've given us since April. Sorted, I thought. As a last question to the nice lady, I said I would have to adjust my estimated childcare costs for the last month due to only paying a retainer as I have been off work following an op. She said it was very important I did so, not just to keep things straight but because if my actual costs were less than my estimated we might have to pay more back, and then rambled about the percentage of costs they pay. I have amended my estimate, but surely if we are over the threshold to receive any help for this year and are going to pay back all the credits we've received for this tax year they can't take any more? Have gone over it in my head, they can't get more back than they've given on a simple (no penalties) overpayment?

Please help, I recently received a letter from tax credits asking for proof of childcare from april12 to april13. The problem is the money I have been receiving I thought was just general child and working tax credits. My child went to a childminder from april 12 to sept 12 and then started at afterschool club which is the fraction of a childminders costing. I didn't think I had to inform them as I didn't think the money was childcare, I have proof of the childminder and afterschool club, I think I will be due to pay back around £5000, but im more terrified of getting a criminal record or going to prison and losing my job. Please I need advice of what might happen to me. Im terrified I would never be fraudulent on purpose - feel ill with worry

Please help me. I have totally screwed up and know I am facing prison. I have received a letter asking for my childcare receipts to finalise my 13-14 award. My ex moved back in within the last few weeks, this was totally unexpected so the kids no longer need childcare. I have called the tax credits and told them this and have had a letter saying I no longer qualify and have to pay the last few weeks back. That's not my big problem, the problem is now I can't call and finalise my 2012-13 award as I have claimed childcare costs that I haven't paid. My ex was out of work so started picking the kids up, I wanted to call and tell them but I was desperate for money and would have lost my house without the extra money. I thought just another week and then a another week and now the whole year has gone by and I've actually only paid £216 childcare instead of the 10K I have said I paid. I don't know what to do, I can't sleep, I'm shouting at the kids, I want to kill myself but I love my kids and it would effect their lives forever. Please help me.

Hello, I am new to the site and I in need of some help **PLEASE** I have recieved a letter this morning re a compliance check and I need to send in reciepts/ contracts etc. I have been STUPID- my daughter turned 4 last March and got 15hours free at her daycare. I signed a form re this and assumed this would inform the tax credits that my costs had decreased. I was claiming £160 per week when my costs were £70 after the 15 houts free. So i have been overpaid and never rang up the tax credits to ask why/ change the details... I just thought that automatically happened after I signed the 15hour form. Anyway I am going to send all my contacts/ money paid to them and inform them of the overpayment it appears I have. My questions are-has this happened to anyone before? What was the outcome and will I be sent yo court/prison? I guess my overpayment is around £5,000 which I know is a massive amount. I am grateful for any advice/past experiances..anything really. Please help! Thankyou in advance.. you have no idea how sick I feel xx:sad:

Hello, we have received a letter from the Benefits and Credits Compliance arm of the Tax Credit Office. They are requesting receipts and invoices from our childcare provider for the past year. Unfortunately we do not have them nor have any way of getting them as the nursery has changed hands since our children left in September. The letter lists various nasties that will be heaped upon us for not submitting said documents, and also states that we may have to pay back any credits we have received. My issue is that we do not receive any credits for childcare due to our income. awards letters which we have for 2010-11; 2011-12; 2012-2013. all state the same thing. Working Tax Credit elements (other than childcare) Amount for period £0 Childcare element of Working Tax Credit; Amount for period £0 We did have our children in childcare, and we did keep the Tax Credits office informed on our yearly submissions, but we have paid the fees out of our own funds, as we receive nothing, And have not done in any of the previous years. We have spoken at length on the phone to the Compliance Operations unit, but they are still demanding receipts and invoices for something that has not been claimed for or paid for by them, which seems quite ridiculous. Has anyone else suffered similar?

I currently work for a further educationinstitute where in addition to our teaching duties we have administrativeduties too. In 2011 we had a new line manager who introduced a policy of a workfrom home day and I managed to secure a Monday as my work from home day toassist with childcare. This was a scheduled work from home day agreed andtimetabled by the line manager as part of self-managed time but not arrangedvia HR. In late 2012 we had a new HR manager whodeemed that self-maanged time was not a right. The operational needs of theinstitution needed to be put first. I mentioned flexible working arrangementsand was told that this needed to go through HR but I quote " I do not knowthat much about HR policy" and "In twenty years I have not heard ofpeople having time off for childcare" The timetabling for this term was then donein late December and it seemed that I had Monday free so I felt that there wasno need to apply for the flexible working especially since other peoples'requests seemed to have been met too. I then went on annual leave in mid-Decemberand came back to work yesterday (Tuesday). Luckily, I had checked my email atthe weekend and discovered that I had been timetabled for admin duties on theMonday. I emailed the line manager immediately and was told that I should makean official application via HR. I was due to have a meeting regarding courseplanning with the line manager today. However, she needed to postpone it andsuggested next Monday as an alternative date. I reminded her about my application for flexible working. She respondedby saying that the assumption was that until I received official permissionfrom HR that I would come in on a Monday. In the meantime someone else applying forflexible working on childcare grounds has not been told that. Also, otherpeople have had the timetable work out in their favour due to health issues, orthe fact that they work elsewhere on particular evenings even though they arealso on full-time contracts. I feel slightly miffed by the situation buthave I got any grounds to complain about any of this treatment. Unfortunately,I suspect the answer may be no!

Hi thinking of putting my 5 month old son into nursery 1 day a week to get him used to being there then when i return to work i will be putting him in nursery 2 to 4 days a week depending if we get help with childcare costs my partner is currently unemployed after being made redundant the nursery is £28 a day and just wondering would we apply to childcare cost help if so how much would it be im on £18,000 a year before tax

hi all i have a very stressing problem my son and daughter both attended private nursey while myself and my wife worked as such we claimed childcare which we was entitled too . now back in april 2011 we had a random request from the tax credit office asking for proof we had children in nursery this we did by having the nursery which is council run provide a letter stating childcare costs by this time my daughter was no longer attending there as she started school..and my son we was removing in the july ..so when our tax credits dropped we never gave it a second thought .. now we renewed our tax credits in july 2011 and nothing changed so we assumed all was well now we jump to this year and renewed them again in july 2012 all of a sudden they say they over paid us by £10,000 for childcare as we didnt provide proof we was entitled to it back in april 2011.. but we had so we resent them the letter as we kept a copy we today we recieved a letter saying they wasnt going to change there decision as they fulfilled all there responsibilties..which they havent as they lost the original letter and never requested anything again..i need to know what to do as my kids was in childcare for which the money they paid us was used to pay for childcare

Hi Does any body know how long it takes to add a new childcare provider to a claim? my friend put her son into nursery back in January and has only just informed tax credits - she told them he started in june - this was over the telephone just over a week ago The reason for this is he wasnt settleing well and she thought she would have to pull him out - so her mum was helping her with the fee's - rather then her claim via tax credit them pull him out and have to cancel him off the claim again- he has now settled and her mum isnt able to help her with the fee's due to being made redundant so she has asked for childcare help via taxcredits - she is worried sick now as she told them he started in June but it was it was January - she is a single parent of two - and is worried they will investigate her if they ring nursery to confirm he attends etc etc its only £26.00 a week she pays to nursery

The facts, we received a letter saying we (my partner & I) have been selected for review and asked for recepits and invoices for childcare over the last year. I have two children ages 2 & 3. From, Sept 11 both went into childcare for a full 4 days a week because my partner started college. We claimed accurately for childcare up to this point through our tax credits . We changed this and was awarded £150.00 per week. Now the problem, my partner was eligible to apply for "Financial Assitance" from the college she attends, initially she lost and then appealed and they agreed up to £8000 grant which included childcare. So therefore from Sept effectively our childcare was paid for by the college through this assistance. Because she was nil'd then appealed payment didn't really commence until October / November time. We (i think stupidlly) thought nothing more of the tax credits we received because we both worked myself full time and at that point my partner did 18hrs per week on average on thought we were entitled to the payments, because we work and used childcare. It wasn't until my partner came out of work from one of her jobs and her hours reduced to under 7 that we looked again at what the tax credits form say and state "what you actually pay" as soon as we realized we contacted them, this was end of January this year told them our childcare was paid for. Our payments were slashed and we assumed that, if it was incorrect, they would have adjusted our payments accordingly for the remainder of the year. We now have the "letter" problem we are encountering is similar to others, those bills we did pay and receipts recieved are probably polluting the earth somewhere, we didn't keep them. The childcare provider has given us charges & payments received and the college has said all they can do is re-issue the award letter stating she is entitiled up to £8000 but did confirm verbally we were nowhere near that limit. My questions are really: Did we need to declare the financial aid from her local college? When declared the college pays for it through this grant, should they have recalculated our entitlement taken that into account (although I do recall the asked for a day and I responded what day? He said when you want to stop claiming so I said 4th Jan when we knew or thought it was wrong.....?) any overpayment made since stating the college have paid for it since September? Were we entitled to any childcare with us both working? and finally will we end up in prison? I roughly work out that we received £100 per week for 5mths 20 weeks so around £2000 what will they do once I send them this documentation back........as my username suggests scratchingmyhead......it seems so black and white now especially writing this but at the time it seemed we were correct

Hello everyone. I was very relieved to find this site and see how many people have been receiving these review letters. I recieved one today asking me to provide them with information on my childcare for 2010/12. They want a contract, invoices and receipts and bank statements showing the payments going out. I told them on the phone in March that my daughter was no longer in childcare. My payments went down significantly and I received an amended award in the post. Then I receive my renewal pack and it still has in there that I'm claiming the childcare element. I sent the renewal forms off with the figures from my P60 etc. Today I receive this review letter. Now I parted ways with my childminder after a big disagreement and I have no invoices from her or receipts. She use to just email me the hours and I'd arrange payment, mainly through bank transfer but I did also pay her part cash on some occasions as my parents helped me out sometimes with the fees. I probably have a contract somewhere but nothing else other than online bank statements. The letter states that if I do not reply by 8 July they will use the information on file and stop the childcare element of the tax credits. This is fine by me as I've already told them my daughter is not in childcare. Do I need to reply to them? Or at least send them a letter explaining that I no longer have childcare costs? Thanks in advance, GG

A fortnight ago I received a letter asking for my childcare invoices/receipts/contract. I am luckily able to provide all of these once the nursery give me new copies. I am slightly concerned as to why I have been selected for a childcare review. Are these really 'random' checks, as the letter tries to say, or is there a more systematic way of selecting those to be reviewed/checked. The letter has made me feel already as if I have done something wrong. Quite an accusing tone, and leaflet explaining about fines etc if you are found to be in the wrong. I know that I have claimed childcare legitimately, but its almost as if the 'compliance officer' seems to already think, for whatever reason, that I have already commited a crime, or fraud. Following on from this, am I going to have to give bank statements/p60/payslips/utility bills, etc, as I have read that some people have had to provide. Why do some of us need to provide only child care related paper work, and then others have to provide bank statements etc. Im quite a worrier and since recieving the letter I have been unable to sleep, have booked extra time off work etc, as Im worried sick. Is it likely that I am due a more thorough examination?