Nursery World - Pay tax credits to care providers, says NDNA

The National Day Nurseries Association is calling for tax credits to be paid directly to childcare providers, after the Government admitted last week that for the second year running families had received 'gigantic' overpayments. The Public Accounts Committee report said that Revenue & Customs tried to recover an estimated 2.2bn in 2004/05.

The Public Accounts Committee report said that Revenue & Customs tried to recover an estimated 2.2bn in 2004/05.

The NDNA said that paying tax credits directly to providers would ensure that parents were receiving the correct entitlement, reduce fraudulent claims and help to prevent a build-up of bad debts for nurseries.

Purnima Tanuku, NDNA chief executive, said, 'Tax credits are an important way of helping families to access high-quality childcare, but the current system is both bewildering and open to fraud.'

Karen Walker, director of the Children's Place, a chain of eight nurseries in Yorkshire, told Nursery World that the levels of debt were highest in the company's Neighbourhood Nurseries, where more parents are tax credit claimants.

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