Nursery Fees...20% off with the Tax free childcare account.

Apparently there are £8.5 billions lost in unclaimed benefits every year.

So it's not just pregnancy-heads missing out

Just as we have people like bikergran. (Thank you again btw) .

I told DD about it tonight after her very long shift and she was completely unaware.

OK brainboxes and thank you all. Could you bring this down to laymans' speak for this ignoramus. The user contributes 80 per cent; the govt 20 per cent to a nominated account and then presumably the childcare source has access to this aforementioned account and draws it out on a sort of monthly direct debit basis? I'm assuming this is not a savings account but a regularly usable source of assistance.

GNetters, thank you for the chuckles! Perhaps Easybee wasn’t having a good day. Thanks everyone for the reminder, I will guide my DD in the direction of the link.

Having a bad day easybee? Hope it gets better.

Get outa bed the wrong side eazybee???

Warm Front? Our over 60s cheaper fuel charges were stopped about 3 years ago. Our monthly charge more than doubled. This is the first I've heard of Warm Front.
I'd better look it up, but if anyone has experience of it I'd love to hear about it.

What a nasty thing to say Easybee!! I read the Times and the Evening Standard every day and I was only partially aware of it. Neither my daughter or myself are numbskulls, having several Masters Degrees between us. Thanks a bunch!!!

www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs

Having a degree doesn't mean that you're savvy, merely that you are educated...to a degree. I know a couple of people who are brilliant in their own field but fairly clueless when it comes to knowing everyday stuff.
I'd much rather know something about everything than a lot about one thing.

Kim19

Yes. Spot on.

At the beginning of the term after children become 3, parents can claim up to 30 hours 'free' childcare a week for 36 ( I think ) weeks of the year if the setting they choose has space and the facilities to offer it. ( All parents can claim up to 15 hours a week for over 3s with no assessment). If there are 2 parents in the household, both must work over 16 hours to claim the free 30 hours - it should be 25 in my opinion to allow for some travel. People who only work 16 hours or under don't actually need 30 hours childcare paid for by other taxpayers, do they? It not free is it, it's a cost to somebody just as the NHS, schools, emergency services etc. are.

You have to apply for a code on a termly basis from the local authority to see if you are eligible. If you are on a high salary such that you are no longer eligible for child benefit you can't claim either. Some employers offer childcare vouchers whereby you can pay a certain amount into a scheme and you don't pay tax on that amount, a bit like the tax savings when you pay into a pension and you can use those vouchers to pay towards childcare. If the fees at the nursery or whatever setting is chosen are higher than what the government currently allows then you would have to pay to top up the difference per hour of care. You would also have to pay the full fees for the remaining weeks of the years when the scheme does not operate just as if you would have to find childcare for the school holidays.

It's all very simple really but I work in a nursery where some of the parents make such a fuss as it's all 'so much effort to do it'!! It really annoys me and I tell the moaners that if you don't want something for nothing and can't be bothered to fill in a claim form then just pay the full fees all the time then. That shuts them up and gets them moving because we refuse to mollycoddle them and do it for them. It's their decision to have children and work and use childcare. It's about time people started sorting out their own lives and stopped thinking that it's someone else's responsibility to hold their hand and do things for them or remind them of things all the time!!

I think that you gave to have specific benefits to qualify for Warm Front but not all companies offer it. My son qualifies as he is disabled.

I should look at Martin Lewis if I were you.

kewst if you google "warm front grant" it helps with heating costs...if you follow the page down you will see if your provider is part of the scheme..click on your provider and it will tell you the criteria.

I dint think I had the criteria the way it read...but I did and was awarded £140 towards my electric ( I got it off my gas and electric as I have duel fuel.) they don't give you the cash they take it off your bill.

I gave them a ring (think its freephone number) and a very nice gent went through it and filled it in for me first time (took about 3/4 mins) this yr a filled it in on line, you don't get email back or anything, the first you know about it is when you look at your fuel account and it has been debited.

I applied in October and it came off my January's bill.

Of course I think I maybe right in saying that I can receive this because I am not ! eligible for the "Winter Fuel Allowance " even tho I am 62 I have to wait until I draw my pension at around 66 .
That British Gas.

To all of us who have the grey matter and good fortune to have a degree, I would quote my darling Mother who used to despair and say 'Aye, common sense is not so common right enough'. Used to make me smile then at the accurate chastening and still has the same effect now. She was right, of course. Yet again!

Thanks GC.

I have looked into Warm Front and the grant has now been withdrawn and is being replaced with discounts for insulation etc. Thanks for advising me though.

Which area are you in *kwest" Im in Lancshire I have also had insulation.....wish I hadnt!! its now causing condensation and black mould!

ALSO update..on the free child hours....apparently if you are in receipt of Universal credit even a minuscule amount you cannot claim the 20% free tax allowance.

On the subject of degrees and common sense - my DH has 2 degrees - nuff said!!

I am in Nottinghamshire bikergran. So sorry to hear about your condensation and black mould problems.
You need good ventilation and a free flow of air through the house .
This is the opposite of what we are told to do.
The advice the government gave about keeping rooms so draught-proof that they are virtually sealed has caused enormous damage, especially to older houses. Older houses were built with chimneys, creating a natural airflow and windows were opened to air rooms every day.
Blocking chimneys and and insulating and double glazing everything to within an inch of it's life stops a building from' breathing.