Childcare costs

Denny83

Hi everyone i have a question,
Currently i am working 12 hours a week and earning roughly £800 a month and my mum looks after my daughter when she is not in school and i go to work , as my hours change always depending on the person needs
My question is if i were to pay a nanny to look after my daughter when im at work will uc cover this? As my earnings are only about £800 a month
With the minimum wage £12.21 X 48 a month ( the amount of hours i work) 85% of this is just under £500 a month
Will i get this back every month?

Thanks for help

OverlyAnxious

Hi,

I think there's some misunderstanding here.

You would only get up to 85% of the childcare costs paid back. Not 85% of your earnings.

So you would need to work out roughly how many hours your child needs looking after each month, when they are not at school. And also how much a nanny would charge per hour in your area.

You will need to provide exact amounts of childcare costs each month, and UC will pay the refund based on that, so it could be different each month.

Denny83

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1069123#Comment_1069123

I know its 85% of childcare costs not my earnings
i just put my earnings there because its kind of low and not sure if UC will approve the childcare costs?

OverlyAnxious

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1069144#Comment_1069144

Ah ok, I see what you mean. There isn't a minimum number of hours or level of income needed for Childcare Costs on UC.

Denny83

Also another thing if my assessment period runs from the 22 till 21 on what date should i upload the costs to get paid for that same month i pay the nanny?

OverlyAnxious

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1069505#Comment_1069505

The latest you should upload them is the final day of your assessment period. So 21st in this case.

That gives UC a few days to approve it before the final statement gets generated for that assessment period. However, you can upload them immediately after paying if you prefer.