According to a statement from Margaret Hodge on Government News web-site dated 18 January from April 2005:

"Under the Childcare Approvel scheme, families on incomes of, up to £59,000 will be eligable for Working Tax Credit support for childcare in their own home"

I have done a few rough calculations and I think they could indeed get some help from Tax Credits though it would actually be Child Tax Credit they get as this is the last bit that is tapered away.

My reason I'm going on about this is that I've not seen anyone else drawing attention to what this could mean for Sure Start Maternity Grants.

It seems to me that we will now get families on incomes of over £50kpa who are getting Child Tax Credit at more than the minimum rate and consequenly are able to get Maternity Grants.

I'm not quite getting this! The government are extending the criteria for child care in the home which can attract the child care element to be included in the wtc calculation. As an add on it will also be increasing the limits applicable to the child care element. I agree this may or may not result in awards of tc which is family element+. Hence your link into SMG. However, outcome as ever is dependant on assessed income. This applies to claimants who already satisfy the criteria for the inclusion of the child care element in the wtc calculation. Again it doesn't necessarily mean that this has resulted in an award of family element+. Its the link in to the Childcare Approval scheme that confuses me. Why is it only now, with the introduction of the scheme, that families on income £50k+ may access SMG. Surely, if your position is correct, anybody with child care element would be in a similar position. What has changed?

Many thanks

shaun

Sorry I didn't mean to imply that only families using nannies can get SMG grants. I do indeed mean that all families using registered childcare may be elgable. I was just struck by the fact that a family on a combined income of over 50k might not even consider applying for a maternity grant.

The DWP has access to a breakdown of Tax Credit awards, so when someone applies for a Maternity Grant the DWP check their award. If they get more than family element because of entitlement to childcare costs, this will be clear in the breakdown and they won't receive a grant.

The tapering makes it confusing for us as well as claimants - Tax Credit award notices may imply that Child Tax Credit is at more than the family element rate when it isn't.

See my previous post about problems with Tax Credits and the Maternity Grant if you're interested in reading about more confusion.

Here is the link to helen's earlier 'Maternity Grant & Tax Credits' posting -

http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=386&mode=full

Hi Helen

thanks for your reply, I do recall reading your report and it is interesting.

However, at the risk of seeming foolish can I ask you where this particular rule comes from. As I write this I have in front of me Social Security Legislation 2004 Volume 2 It states that:

"The four conditions specified must all be satisfied for a payment to be made but no needs have to be proved beyond them" "either the person claiming the maternity payment or that person's family must have been awarded a qualifying benefit. THESE ARE .....OR CHILD TAX CREDIT (IF IT IS PAID AT A HIGHER RATE THAN THE FAMILY ELEMENT).

I appreciate that the award letter doesn't specify this but I honestly don't know which regulation says that an award of more than the family element doesn't count if it results from payment of the child care element of WTC.

I think it's because CTC+ counts as a Maternity Grant passport - and the childcare element is technically WTC.

It's the tapering that appears to make a nonsense of the regulations; WTC childcare can become CTC+, and appears as such on award notices.

Maybe there's something in the IR regs which defines entitlement. Presumably as the DWP have a way of filtering Tax Credit awards for Maternity Grant purposes there's something somewhere. Or maybe not!