Childcare Costs

Due to the fact my childcare costs vary due to term time, school holidays and my leave, I have used the method of estimating my annual childcare costs. The figure I came up with was ££1997.50, which averaged out at £38.41 per week, which the system rounded up to £39 per week. Last year my actual costs were just a fraction over £38 per week so it was very accurate. The rate charged by my childcare provider has fortunately not risen for this financial year so I did not change the £39 estimate. Just before the summer holidays my childcare provider announced that due to staff shortages they would have to close the facility for 2 weeks during the summer holidays, I could not take annual leave during the 2 weeks so I managed by scrambling around using other clubs and friends. I basically paid on the day at the clubs and paid for my son to visit attractions with my friends. The result is my payment to my childcare provide has fallen by £320 this financial year, which means my average weekly charge for this year will be approximately £32 per week. I checked on the system to find out what I need to report and it states that you only have to report weekly average charges if they increase or decrease by more than £10 or reach zero, mine did not so I did not report it. Although I am sure the tax credit system will not take it into account, as the services I used were not registered, but I spent at least £320 covering those 2 weeks. I am about to start the managed migration process to move to Universal Credit from Tax Credits but I am worried that as part of the process it will be identified that my costs reduced by £320 and I will be asked to repay it, something I will find challenging. Can you confirm that I was correct in not reporting the reduction because it was less than £10 and also whether I could be liable to repay the tax credit contribution (70%) of the £320.

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