You get child care element to tax credits or whatever the universal credit equivalent is. They pay 70% of your child care costS as long as you use a registered ofsted child carer. You need to be able to estimate your cost in advance and take into account anything like term time only. If you end up paying out more than your estimate then you can claim it back but if you end up paying less than your estimate then you will owe it back. They don’t automatically ask you for proof but at any time you could be requested to give proof. I had this when my daughter was in nursery at the pre school and got her free sessions but I was paying for extra sessions. The following year I was asked to submit proof. I had a a bit of an issue as I contacted the tax credit people when she finished nursery for the summer to go into reception and they never changed my claim and actually kept paying me the same money. So when I sent in proof they came back to me saying I had been overpaid and owed them. I got into a battle as I had contacted them a couple of time. Anyway it turned out they record calls so when I submitted info regarding those calls and they tracked them down I didn’t have to pay the overpayment back as it was their error. So, keep records of all monies actually paid and if it looks like it might differ to estimate then let them know immediately.
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