Does anyone know if it is correct for a lone parent full time student who starts work at 16 hours during the evening to be able to claim for childcare assistance during the day through Tax Credits when she is at college?

I have contacted TCO advisers line and they think it would be ok as the rules are that the client must work 16 hrs to qualify for childcare. My concern is that could they look at this later on and consider this as an overpayment because the childcare was not used for the when the client is working.

I work with a group who provide information to assist clients regarding childcare and they say that the client cannot claim childcare because she does not require it when working but study time only. I have checked guidance but cannot see anything to confirm this.

Tax credits are not my speciality to say the least so someone might correct me. The regulations talk about childcare charges incurred. They do not say childcare charges incurred “for the purposes of the claim”, or “in connection with the claim”, or some other such qualification. They are silent as to when in the day the person’s working hours are, and, to when in the day those hours are in relation to when the childcare is provided. It would have been easy for the draftsman to make his intentions clear if this were so. The fact that he has drafted the regs so widely suggests, to my mind, that he meant a great amount of flexibility to be allowed.

So to prevent the person in the above circumstances claiming childcare charges there would have to be a reading into the regs some words that are not there and I am doubtful whether the regs could bear such a forced interpretation.

There might be recourse to ministerial statements in the House “as an aid to the construction of legislation which is ambiguous or obscure or the literal meaning of which leads to an absurdity” (Pepper v Hart (1992) HL); so further elucidation might be found there if there is any serious dispute.

I have looked at the Tax Credits Technical Manual & the Compliance Manual.

I cannot find anything which says the childcare has to be for hours the claimant is actually working. The nearest I get to it is here:

Entitlement to WTC may include an element for child care charges (the child care element). The child care element is associated with WTC, not CTC, as it is intended to help parents with the child care costs they incur to put themselves in a position to work.

That statement seems to be a vague general statement of principle. It is in the Compliance Manual at:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/ccmmanual/CCM6210.htm

There is a mass of other stuff about childcare in the same manual - which I have not looked at, but the headings seem to indicate it won't be relevant.

So, a tentative conclusion the same as nevip. Problem is - as I'm sure you know - Tax Credits are something of a law unto themselves so there is bound to be a residual worry about them coming back on it. However, if they do they would - if challenged - have to quote the relevant Regs. to justify their stance.

You could ring the intermediaries helpline again (almost ceertainly get a different person) & see whether you get the same answer. Make sure a detailed note is kept of the call - name, date, time, summary of what said. You could go further, & get a letter sent with the claim setting out the facts (keep a copy of it & of the claim form). In a logical world (why do I still think there is any logic in taxcreditland?) this should be more than enough to see off any later challenge.

Thankyou both very much for your help and advice