my client separated from her husband 2 years ago, carried on with her job and claimed working tax and child tax credits in a single claim. she went to the local jobs and benefit office and got the details of an approved child minder who agreed to look after client's son for a couple of hours each school day for £65, tax credits covered usual 80%. all went smoothly till a year and a half later she got letter from hmrc explaining that she was using an unregistered childminder and that she had incurred an overpayment of almost £3,500.

when we made some enquiries we discovered that the childminder was registered when the arrangement began but had let her registration lapse and continued with her business, this had come to light in routine hmrc check.

as you can imagine TCO maintain that it is the claimant's responsibility to ensure that the childminder they use is registered and so far they refuse to change their decision. this seem harsh to me as my client appears to have taken all reasonable steps to comply with the rules and has fallen foul of TCO because of someone else's negligence. (initially she went to a solicitor to persue the childminder for the money but this has become too expensive. we could possibly go through the small claims court but even if the claim was successful would still be out of pocket.) id be interested to hear from anyone who has come across something similiar or has any thoughts on it, thanks and a happy new year to all.

I think if it was me I'd get her MP involved. A letter from her MP may be sufficient to persuade TCO to think again.

yep that should put the wind up them but unfortunately the client was sent to us by our local MP who found that he was getting no where with it!

i've been thinking that if TCO stick to their guns on this they better make sure to amend their information packs to advise claimants to make regular checks on their childminder's registration status - a monthly phone call to social services would do, and while they're about it they might be wise to ask to see home insurance documents, check that they have a TV licence, that their car is insured and taxed etc, would save the government a lot of unneccessary work wouldn't it?

i'd imagine your childminder would soon tell you to f.f.f.f......find some one else to look after your kid.

I understand childminders are under instructions to tell people about their changes in registration status.

Looks like you'll have to make sure this has gone all the way through TCO complaints procedure, then take it to the Adjudicator and - if unsuccessful there - on to the Parliamentary Ombudsman. I certainly wouldn't just let it be accepted. In my view it is totally unreasonable to expect claimants to police their childminders in this way.