Childcare and Universal Credit

Hi,

Now schools are closed for most children, does anyone know if Universal Credit or Tax Credits will allow people to claim childcare costs for a period of time when children would usually be in school? Someone might be able to work from home but be unable to care for their school age children at the same time. I know in practice they might struggle to find childcare / it might not be advisable as everyone needs to stay at home.

Thanks :)

Hi Biscuits

This is an important point - it appears there would be a problem for tax credits under The Working Tax Credit (Entitlement and Maximum Rate) Regulations 2002:

2B) Care provided for a child in England is not child care under paragraph (2)(a)(iii) if—
(a) it is provided during school hours for a child who has reached compulsory school age,

I’ll add this to a list of questions we have for HMRC.

There is similar wording for UC, under Reg 35 but it doesn’t rule it out in the same way.

Mark