In a change from the old system, nurseries have no way of knowing whether parents are claiming the childcare element of the tax credit, because the claim form no longer requires the nursery to confirm that the child is attending sessions. The onus is now solely on parents to complete the nursery's details on the form, including the name of the approved childcare provider, the registration number and registering body.
Leslie Beber, who owns Little Acorns Nursery in Edinburgh, said she has experienced 'a major upsurge' in parents ringing her for registration details and reserving places at the nursery but not taking them up.
Yvonne McLellan, a director of the Scottish Independent Nurseries Association (SINA), said the Inland Revenue was liaising with SINA about the best way to deal with the problem and would contact nurseries in the future to carry out spot checks. She said nursery owners were giving out their registration details and reserving places 'in good faith' to people who are then potentially able to claim fees without the child even starting at the nursery. 'It is causing havoc, particularly with the smaller nurseries,' she said.
Nurseries could lose out on revenue in the long run by keeping places open for people who have no intention of sending a child to the nursery and, in the meantime, having to turn away genuine requests for places.
While every nursery was different, Ms McLellan said it was not unusual for nurseries to keep places open for up to four months.
She acknowledged that the old system did not prevent bogus claims, but said, 'If you have personal contact with the parents I think nine times out of ten you would get a measure of whether they are there for the right reasons or not.'
The subject of tax credit fraud was discussed at a local SINA membership evening held in Edinburgh at the end of June. Local SINA convenor Therese Duriez, who runs two nurseries in the city, said it was hard to know if people ringing up for the nursery's details were genuine claimants or not and she did not keep places for parents who just rang up. 'There were abuses with the old system, but at least we knew if people were claiming from our nursery,' she said.
Although it was not always possible, Ms Duriez asked parents for confirmation in writing and a month's fees three months before their child was due to start.
Maggie Simpson, national development officer for the Scottish Childminding Association, said that there were cases of parents not turning up for places they had booked with a childminder, but said, 'whether it is fraud or not is debatable'.
A spokeswoman from the Inland Revenue said, 'We take fraud extremely seriously and will not put up with tax credits being defrauded. Childcare tax credits deliver more effective support than ever before to working families and anyone tempted to cheat should think again because we are contacting childcare providers across the UK on a selective basis.
'We will be undertaking a national programme of checks with childcare providers over the coming year. This is fully supported by the National Childminding Association with whom we have been consulting. These are checks with the providers to confirm the amounts claimed in respect of childcare costs.'