We have a claimant who is currently on Maternity Leave from her employment. Her time there before the leave was not long enough to mean that she is paid any Maternity Pay.
She is not entitled to Maternity Allowance (she informs us) and yet is still paying Child Care Charges.
We have ended her earnings from the last day of work and our System Northgate, has automatically ended the Child Care Disregard as the claimant is not in remunerative work.
As usual, I thought that there would be no entitlement to Child Care Costs disregard as she was not in remunerative work (ie working for 16 hours or more) but the Zebedee book seems to suggest that whilst on Maternity Leave, she can still be treated as being in remunerative work. The book them goes on to confuse me completely.
The claimant is angry as she does not agree with what we have done and I am not sure that it is correct.
Can anyone advise on this at all?
Thank you greatly in advance!