From 6th April 2003, the claimant should calculate costs as follows:
The claimant arrives at the average weekly childcare costs by adding together the weekly costs for the last 4 weeks and dividing the total by 4. In practice, of course, as the costs are fixed, the claimant should enter their current weekly cost.
The average weekly costs are calculated by adding the total paid in childcare in the last 52 weeks and dividing that by 52 (including any nil weeks). If it is less than 52 weeks since the claimant started using registered childcare, then the claimant should work out what they expect to pay in the next 52 weeks and divide that by 52. In arriving at this figure, the claimant should include all periods within the 52 weeks, even where they did not / do not expect to, incur any childcare costs.
The claimant only pays childcare during school holidays and has paid £60 per week during the previous Easter Holiday (2 weeks) Summer Holiday (5 weeks) and half terms (3 weeks). The average weekly childcare to be entered on the claim form would be:
£60 x 10 weeks = £600 (annual amount), divided by 52 equals £12 weekly amount (rounded up).
Claimants who pay a fixed monthly cost will arrive at the weekly figure to enter on the claim form by multiplying their monthly cost by 12 and then dividing by 52.
For those who don't pay the same amount every month, they should calculate their average weekly cost by adding together the amounts paid over the last 12 months and dividing by 52.
