Nursery care providers in the island have ’very significant’ concerns about the abuse of childcare benefit.

The concerns have been outlined in a Freedom of Information request to the Treasury, asking for figures of fraudulent claims for Employed Persons’ Allowance.

It is alleged that parents are claiming for a child’s nursery care costs as part of their EPA, having signed their child up to a particular nursery but never actually sending them there.

The FoI request states: ’The providers of nursery care on the island have very significant concerns regarding how the current system is operated. We believe there is a significant cost to government for EPA which is not being used for the purpose it is paid.

’We would like to put together a proposal for improving the system that will be beneficial to claimants, nursery providers, and the government.’

But David Ireland, director of National Insurance and Social Security, said his department had no evidence that this was happening.

He said: ’We are not aware of any mass fraud. But if someone has evidence that the system is being abused then we will investigate and if someone is found to be abusing the system we will prosecute.

’We can’t say that with all the benefits we administer that fraud doesn’t happen. Unfortunately, it’s human nature.’

Just over 1,000 people currently claim EPA.

You can apply for pre-school credit towards the cost of nursery care if your child has their fourth birthday in the current academic year.

But if you have a younger child, you may be eligible to claim towards your nursery costs as part of an application for EPA, depending on your income, hours you work and other circumstances.

charges

There is a section on the claim form which requires the claimant to provide details of the childcare charges they are paying.

The childcare provider or nursery manager has to sign the claim form to confirm the details provided by the claimant are correct.

In its response to the FoI request, Treasury said: ’We would not make any allowance towards childcare charges when calculating entitlement to EPA if the childcare provider or nursery manager had not signed the relevant EPA claim form.

’This has been the position for the last several years, including throughout the 2017-18 financial year, and is ongoing.’

However, it is alleged that having got the sign off from the nursery provider and applied for the EPA, the parent does not sent the child to the nursery and just pockets the cash.

The Treasury said it could not give figures for the numbers of EPA claims in respect of nursery care, or figures for fraud in this area, as details are not held about the nursery fee or other components that make up the claim.