Childminders losing to fraud

Dozens of registered childminders in Northern Ireland have lost thousands of pounds as a result of parents falsely claiming childcare tax credit for their services.

The Northern Ireland Childminding Association (NICMA) has received a number of complaints from childminders about the matter since the tax credit's introduction late last year. It is now so concerned about parents fiddling the tax credit that the matter is to be discussed at a conference in Belfast later this month.

NICMA spokeswoman Irene Bell said, 'We have had several dozen complaints from members all over Northern Ireland about parents going to see them and getting them to sign the forms in order to claim the tax credit. Their children would then go to the childminder's for a week - if at all - then are never seen again after that.

'While we know that some parents have genuine reasons for being unable to take up a childminding place, others seem to see the childcare tax credit as an additional means of making money rather than a means of providing quality childcare for their children. We even know of cases where childminders have been intimidated by parents who have threatened to claim that their child was mistreated by the childminder if the childminder should complain.

'It is a pity these payments do not go direct to the childminders rather than the parents. We know of one child- minder who was supposed to look after two children who never turned up. She is 100 a week out of pocket as a result.'

The NICMA has passed on details of the childminders' complaints about the parents to the Inland Revenue's Northern Ireland Tax Credit Office in Belfast.

However, a spokesman for the Inland Revenue denied that there was any problem with parents abusing the system. He said, 'Any information we get from child- minders is third-party information and there is a 'health warning' on it because they are never in possession of the full facts.

'We do look at each case on its merits and take any action, if necessary. There are a potential 200,000 claimants of childcare tax credit in the Province and we have no statistical evidence to show any widespread abuse.'

The NICMA conference is on 21 October. The Tax Credit Office (NI) has a telephone hotline for concerned childminders in Northern Ireland on 028 9050 5385.