EIM22030 - Benefits: exemptions: childcare and childcare vouchers: rules from 6 April 2005: meaning of “care” and “qualifying childcare”
Section 318A ITEPA 2003
The definitions set out in Section 318B and C apply as appropriate to Section 318 (employer- supported childcare), Section 318A (other childcare) and Section 270A (qualifying childcare vouchers).
Care
“Care” is defined generally for the purposes of these exemptions as any kind of care or supervised activity apart from what is provided in schools as part of the child’s compulsory education. However, not all care satisfies the conditions that provide the exemptions. Only “qualifying child care” does that.
Qualifying child care
The rules seek to ensure that only childcare which meets nationally recognised standards will attracts the exemptions from income tax and NICs. In general terms the childcare must be registered with or approved by the relevant authorities. The rules are complex because different statutory powers apply to England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Registered or approved childcare includes:
- registered childminders, nurseries and play schemes*
- out-of-hours clubs on school premises run by a school or local authority
- childcare schemes run by school governing bodies under the ‘extended schools’ scheme
- childcare schemes run by approved providers, for example, an out-of-school hours scheme or a provider approved under a Ministry of Defence accreditation scheme
- approved foster carers (the care must be for a child who is not the foster carer’s foster child)
See the summary diagram at EIM22035.
Regional differences
In England only registered or approved childcare includes:
- childcare given in the child’s own home** by a person approved to care for a child or children
- childcare given in the child’s own home** by a domiciliary worker or nurse from a registered agency who cares for the child or children.
- In Scotland only registered or approved childcare includes:
-
- childcare given in the child’s own home** by (or introduced through) childcare agencies, including sitter services and nanny agencies, which must be registered
Note
Childcare provided away from the child’s own home is
required to be registered in England and Wales for children up to
and including 7 years, in Scotland for children up to age 16 and in
Northern Ireland for children up to and including age 12.
** See paragraph headed “
Childcare that does not satisfy the
conditions” below
Meaning of “a registered childminder, nursery or childcare scheme”
A registered childminder, nursery or childcare scheme is one that is registered
- in England, by OFSTED or the National Care Standards Commission
- in Wales, by the National Assembly for Wales (through the Care Standards Inspectorate for Wales)
- in Scotland, by the Scottish Commission for the Regulation for Care, and
- in Northern Ireland, by a Health and Social Services Trust.
Other childcare
- Certain out of school schemes or schemes run by school governing bodies may be approved by local authorities or local education authorities.
Childcare providers who are eligible to apply for approval in England
Employees may have existing arrangements with child carers who do not have formal approval or registration. The arrangement may work well but it will not attract the exemptions. In consequence the carer may seek approval or registration. In England, the following categories of carers may seek approval in order to qualify for the exemption:
- Childminders who are not required to register
- Nannies or au-pairs
Childcare that does not satisfy the conditions
Childcare does not satisfy the conditions for the exemptions if it is:
- provided by the employee’s partner. (“Partner” means one of a married or unmarried couple and includes civil partners.)
- provided in the child’s own home by a relative of the child. (“Relative” means a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle, brother or sister (whether by blood, half-blood, marriage or affinity), and includes step-parents.)
- provided in the home of the person who has parental responsibility for the child by a relative of the child (“relative” as defined above).
