cloud
Well-known member
Sorry if not fixtures and nothing to do with Gus
In short, I have been asked by HMRC to re-pay all the Tax Credits I have had since my son was born. They first asked me to provide all the receipts for childcare I'd ever used, then stopped payments for no reason. A year or two later and after much persistence I found out why - some of the childcare providers used were not ofsted-registered, so they want to disallow the whole amount.
Now as a single parent who works full time (apart from a couple of periods of unemployment, when I was self-employed), and living in London, I have to use school holiday care which fits in with my working patterns, eg near a tube station if I'm commuting in a certain direction, or one with extended hours so I don't get to work late (holiday clubs from 10-3 are no good if you work 9-5), or one which accepted 4 or 5 year olds (my son had an August birthday), or which were open on dates that coincided with his holidays - which has often meant having to drive miles out of my way to find somewhee.
I have therefore had to use a variety of different childcare providers - which HMRC don't like, as their PC system is based on you only using one or two.
Some childcare providers have said they haven't registered with ofsted because it would mean having to employ a lower calibre of staff than they do at present - oftsed requires then to be NVQ level 2 and 3, which are nursery staff, which is not relevant for school-aged children. And some can only get ofsted registration for children who attend breakfast club (eg 8-10am) but not for the rest of the day. Also you can't register if you run for less than a certain number of days a year, which will clearly affect a lot of holiday schemes. And some private school-based clubs (which I had to use when working in Harrow) don't even use ofted, they use ISIS.
A couple of years back there was a proposal for a different scheme, but it seems to have fallen by the wayside.
I have got to the point where I want to make a formal complaint, and write to someone to contest the rules, because it seems like it just hasn't been properly thought out. I know I'm not the only one having problems.
But I'm not sure who I should write to. Should it be my MP? Head of Policy ay HMRC?
In short, I have been asked by HMRC to re-pay all the Tax Credits I have had since my son was born. They first asked me to provide all the receipts for childcare I'd ever used, then stopped payments for no reason. A year or two later and after much persistence I found out why - some of the childcare providers used were not ofsted-registered, so they want to disallow the whole amount.
Now as a single parent who works full time (apart from a couple of periods of unemployment, when I was self-employed), and living in London, I have to use school holiday care which fits in with my working patterns, eg near a tube station if I'm commuting in a certain direction, or one with extended hours so I don't get to work late (holiday clubs from 10-3 are no good if you work 9-5), or one which accepted 4 or 5 year olds (my son had an August birthday), or which were open on dates that coincided with his holidays - which has often meant having to drive miles out of my way to find somewhee.
I have therefore had to use a variety of different childcare providers - which HMRC don't like, as their PC system is based on you only using one or two.
Some childcare providers have said they haven't registered with ofsted because it would mean having to employ a lower calibre of staff than they do at present - oftsed requires then to be NVQ level 2 and 3, which are nursery staff, which is not relevant for school-aged children. And some can only get ofsted registration for children who attend breakfast club (eg 8-10am) but not for the rest of the day. Also you can't register if you run for less than a certain number of days a year, which will clearly affect a lot of holiday schemes. And some private school-based clubs (which I had to use when working in Harrow) don't even use ofted, they use ISIS.
A couple of years back there was a proposal for a different scheme, but it seems to have fallen by the wayside.
I have got to the point where I want to make a formal complaint, and write to someone to contest the rules, because it seems like it just hasn't been properly thought out. I know I'm not the only one having problems.
But I'm not sure who I should write to. Should it be my MP? Head of Policy ay HMRC?
