Legalize / United Kingdom / Statutory-Instrument

The Childcare Payments Regulations 2015

Type Statutory-Instrument

Publication 2015-03-04

State In force

Department King's Printer of Acts of Parliament

Source legislation.gov.uk

Reform history JSON API PDF

Made

Laid before Parliament

Coming into force

The Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs make the following Regulations, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 2(3)(a) and (4), 4(6), 5(3), 15(3), (4) and (5), 17(4), 19(6), 24(1), (3) and (4), 25, 26(1) and (3), 49(6), 62(1), (2), (3) and (5) and 69(3) and (4) of the Childcare Payments Act 2014 .

Citation and commencement

1

These Regulations may be cited as the Childcare Payments Regulations 2015 and come into force on 1st June 2015.

Interpretation

2

In these Regulations—

“the Act” means the Childcare Payments Act 2014, and a reference without more to a numbered section is a reference to the section of the Act bearing that number;

“armed forces independence payment” means an armed forces independence payment under the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation Scheme) Order 2011 ;

“disability living allowance” means disability living allowance under sections 71 to 76 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 or sections 71 to 76 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 ;

“disabled child” is to be read in accordance with regulations made under section 14 (qualifying child) ;

“personal independence payment” means a personal independence payment under Part 4 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 or Part 5 of the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015;

“prescribed state” means any EEA state or Switzerland;

“relevant maximum” for an entitlement period is to be read in accordance with section 19 (payments into childcare accounts).

Qualifying childcare: registered or approved childcare

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(1) For the purposes of section 2 (qualifying childcare), childcare described in paragraphs (2) to (6) is to be regarded as registered or approved childcare.

(2) Care provided in England for a child—

(a) by a person registered under Part 3 of the Childcare Act 2006 ;

(b) by or under the direction of the proprietor of a school as part of the school activities—

(i) out of school hours, where a child has reached compulsory school age; or

(ii) at any time, where a child has not yet reached compulsory school age; or

(c) by a domiciliary care provider registered with the Care Quality Commission in accordance with the requirements of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 .

(3) Care provided in Wales for a child—

(a) by a person registered under Part 2 of the Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010 ;

(b) by a person in circumstances where, but for article 11, 12 or 14 of the Child Minding and Day Care Exceptions (Wales) Order 2010 , the care would be day care for the purposes of Part 2 of the Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010;

(d) by a person who is employed or engaged under a contract for services to provide care and support by the provider of a domiciliary support service within the meaning of Part 1 of the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016;

(e) by a foster parent in relation to a child (other than one whom the foster parent is fostering) in circumstances where the care would be child minding or day care for the purposes of Part 2 of the Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010 but for the fact that the child is over the age of the children to whom that Measure applies; or

(f) by a childcare provider approved in accordance with a scheme made by the National Assembly for Wales or the Welsh Ministers under either—

(i) section 12(5) of the Tax Credit Act 2002; or

(ii) section 60 of the Government of Wales Act 2006.

(4) Care provided in Scotland for a child—

(a) by a person in circumstances where the care service provided by the person consists of child minding or of day care of children within the meaning of paragraph 12 or 13 of Schedule 12 to the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 and is registered under Part 5 of that Act;

(b) by a local authority in circumstances where the care service provided by the local authority consists of child minding or of day care of children within the meaning of paragraph 12 or 13 of Schedule 12 to the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 and is registered under Part 5 of that Act; or

(c) by a childcare agency where the care service consists of or includes supplying, or introducing to persons who use the service, childcarers within the meaning of paragraph 5 of Schedule 12 to the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010.

(5) Care provided in Northern Ireland for a child—

(a) by a person registered under Part 11 of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 ;

(b) out of school hours by a school as part of the school activities; or

(c) by a childcare provider approved in accordance with a scheme under the Tax Credits (Approval of Home Child Care Providers) Scheme (Northern Ireland) 2006 ; or

(d) by a childcare provider approved by a Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland for the purposes of providing approved home childcare.

(6) Care provided for a child outside the United Kingdom—

(a) where the care is provided by a Ministry of Defence approved childcare provider which is inspected by a person whose functions include regulating the provision of childcare in accordance with the statutory requirements of the Department for Education, or

(b) in any other case, where care is provided within a prescribed state by a childcare provider which is approved, regulated or accredited under the legislation of the relevant state, by a person whose functions include regulating the provision of education or childcare.

(7) The following are not registered or approved childcare—

(a) care provided for a child by the child's parent, step-parent or the parent's partner ;

(b) care provided for a child by a relative of the child, wholly or mainly in the child's home;

(d) care provided by a person who is a foster parent of the child.

(8) Care is not within paragraph (2)(a) if it is provided in breach of a requirement to register under Part 3 of the Childcare Act 2006.

(9) Care is not within paragraph (5)(a) if it is provided in breach of a requirement to register under Part 11 of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995.

(10) In this regulation—

“compulsory school age” is determined in accordance with section 8 of the Education Act 1996 ;

“foster parent” includes, in Scotland, a foster carer or kinship carer as defined by regulation 2 of the Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009 ;

“local authority” means—in relation to Wales, a county council, a county borough council or a community council;in relation to Scotland, a council constituted under section 2 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 ;

“Ministry of Defence approved childcare provider” means a childcare provider, outside the United Kingdom, approved by the Ministry of Defence for use by Her Majesty’s forces, which has the same meaning as in the Armed Forces Act 2006, and their families, and civil servants employed by the Ministry of Defence and their families;

“proprietor”, in relation to a school, means—the governing body incorporated under section 19 of the Education Act 2002 ; orif there is no such body, the person or body of persons responsible for the management of the school;

“relative” means grandparent, aunt, uncle, brother or sister, whether of the full blood or half blood or by marriage or civil partnership;

“school”—in England and Wales, has the same meaning as in the Education Act 1996 ;in Northern Ireland, means a school as defined by article 2(2) of the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986 .

Entitlement periods

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(1) A person's first entitlement period begins on the day on which HMRC confirm that the person is an eligible person for the entitlement period.

(2) Each subsequent entitlement period begins on the day after the previous entitlement period ends.

(3) Each entitlement period begins on the same day of a month except as follows—

(a) if the first entitlement period begins or ends on the 31st day of a month, each subsequent entitlement period shall begin or end on the last day of the month; and

(b) if the first entitlement period begins or ends on the 29th or 30th day of a month, each subsequent entitlement period shall begin or end on the 29th or 30th day of the month, except in February where it begins or ends on the 27th day or, in a leap year, the 28th day.

Variation of entitlement periods

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(1) HMRC may vary the length of an entitlement period—

(a) on the opening of a childcare account in relation to a person's first entitlement period;

(b) on the opening of a childcare account for a person's second or subsequent child; ...

(d) in order to align the entitlement period of an account holder (“A”) with the declaration period of A’s partner under regulation 25 of the Childcare (Free of Charge for Working Parents) (England) Regulations 2022.

(1A) The length of the variation referred to in paragraph (1) shall not exceed two months.

(2) The relevant maximum for the entitlement period varied under paragraph (1) is determined by the formula—

$$X × A ÷ 91$where—X is, in the case of a disabled child, £4,000, or in the case of any other child, £2,000; andA is the number of days in the varied entitlement period.$

Declarations of eligibility

6

(1) A declaration of eligibility must—

(a) be in the form specified by HMRC;

(b) be made to HMRC in accordance with regulation 22; ...

(i) to identify the person making the declaration, the person's partner (if any) and the child in respect of whom the childcare account is, or is to be, held; and

(ii) to determine whether the person is an eligible person;

(d) be accompanied by a confirmation, if required by HMRC.

(2) A declaration of eligibility made for the purposes of opening a childcare account must be made on the day the person applies to open the account.

(3) Subject to paragraph (4) and regulation 7, any other declaration of eligibility (a “reconfirming declaration”) must be made during the period beginning 28 days before the beginning of the entitlement period for which the reconfirming declaration is made and ending when that entitlement period begins.

(4) If a person makes a reconfirming declaration during the period of 7 days immediately preceding the beginning of the entitlement period for which that declaration is made, HMRC may not determine whether the declaration is valid for the purposes of the Act until—

(a) 7 days after the reconfirming declaration was made; or

(b) such earlier time as HMRC allow.

(5) Where a declarant or their partner is self-employed and they make—

(a) the first declaration of the self-employment, the declarant must—

(i) provide any unique taxpayer’s reference of the self-employment; or

(ii) confirm that the self-employed person has, for the tax year in which the reconfirmation is made, given notice to HMRC under section 7 of the Taxes Management Act 1970 in respect of the self-employment but has not yet received a unique taxpayer’s reference;

(b) the second declaration of the self-employment, the declarant must provide any unique taxpayer’s reference of the self-employed person.

(6) Any person whose partner is self-employed in a prescribed state must in the course of reconfirming eligibility, provide information specified by HMRC to confirm that the partner is carrying out self-employed work in that prescribed state.

(7) In this regulation—

“a confirmation” means a confirmation made to HMRC, orally or in writing, by a declarant or their partner that they have complied with the requirement in section 8(1)(a) of the Taxes Management Act 1970 within the period specified in section 8(1D), except where either section 8(1F) or 8(1G) applies where the time limit specified in that section applies;

“declarant” means a person who makes a declaration of eligibility for the purposes of either opening a childcare account or reconfirming eligibility.

Late declarations of eligibility

7

(1) If a person makes a declaration of eligibility during the entitlement period for which it is made (a “late declaration of eligibility”), HMRC may not determine whether the declaration is valid for the purposes of the Act until—

(a) 7 days after the declaration was made; or

(b) such earlier time as HMRC allow.

(2) If a person (“P”) makes a late declaration of eligibility P may make qualifying payments into the childcare account only for the remainder of the entitlement period after the day on which HMRC determine the declaration is valid.

(3) Where a late declaration of eligibility is made by P in circumstances where either—

(a) section 30(2) (termination of tax credit awards) applies; or

(b) P is subject to an assessment period under regulation 21 of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 (assessment periods) and P’s assessment period overlaps with the entitlement period;

the relevant maximum for the entitlement period is reduced to an amount determined by the formula—

$$X×A÷B$where—X is, in the case of a disabled child, £4000, or in the case of any other child, £2000;A is the number of days remaining in the entitlement period after the day on which HMRC determine that the declaration is valid; andB is the total number of days in the entitlement period.$

(4) Paragraph (3) applies with the modification in subparagraph (5) to a resident of a prescribed state who is in paid work in the United Kingdom if, at the date of the declaration, that person or that person’s partner either—

(i) is, under the law of that state, being paid in respect of a relevant assessment period a credit (an “equivalent credit”) which is substantially similar in character to universal credit; or

(ii) is, under the law of that state, in receipt of a credit (“an equivalent credit”) which is substantially similar in character to an award of tax credit; or

(iii) has made a claim that would result in an equivalent credit becoming payable to that person or that person’s partner.

(5) The modification in this paragraph is a reference to universal credit and tax credit includes a reference to an equivalent credit.

Circumstances where eligible person unable to act— receivers etc.

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(1) In the circumstances specified in paragraph (2) a person mentioned in sub-paragraph (b) of that paragraph may act for the person mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) of that paragraph for the purposes of—

(a) making a declaration of eligibility;

(b) opening a childcare account;

(2) The circumstances specified in this paragraph are where—

(a) a person is, or is alleged to be, an eligible person but is unable for the time being to open and manage a childcare account; and

(b) there are any of the following—

(i) a receiver appointed by the Court of Protection with power to open and manage a childcare account on behalf of the person;

(ii) in Scotland, a tutor, curator or other guardian acting or appointed in terms of law who is administering the estate of the person; or

(iii) in Northern Ireland, a controller appointed by the High Court, with power to open and manage a childcare account on behalf of the person.

Circumstances where eligible person unable to act—other appointed persons

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(1) In the circumstances specified in paragraph (2) a person mentioned in sub-paragraph (b) of that paragraph may act for the person mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) of that paragraph for the purposes of—

(a) making a declaration of eligibility;

(b) opening a childcare account;

(2) The circumstances specified in this paragraph are where—

(a) a person is, or is alleged to be, an eligible person but is unable for the time being to open and manage a childcare account; and

(b) in relation to that person, there is a person appointed under—

(i) regulation 33(1) of the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1987 ;

(ii) regulation 33(1) of the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 ; or

(iii) paragraph (3).

(3) Where no person mentioned in regulation 8(2)(b) has been appointed in relation to the person who is unable to act, HMRC may appoint under this paragraph a person who—

(a) if a natural person, is aged 18 years or more; and

(b) has applied in writing to HMRC to be appointed to act on behalf of the person who is unable to act.

(4) A person's appointment under paragraph (3) ends—

(a) when HMRC terminate it;

(b) when the person appointed has resigned from the appointment having given one month's notice in writing to HMRC of that person's resignation; or

(c) when HMRC are notified that a receiver or other person mentioned in regulation 8(2)(b) has been appointed in relation to the person who is unable to open or manage a childcare account.

Appointment by account-holder of person to manage childcare account

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(1) An account-holder may appoint a person to manage a childcare account on behalf of the account-holder.

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