Commentary on provisions of Act Section 5: Childcare payments
Section 5 will make three minor, technical amendments to the Childcare Payments Act 2014.
	Sub-section 5(2) will amend section 5(4) of the Childcare Payments Act 2014 which provides for the amount by which entitlement periods may be varied. The standard length of an entitlement period is three months, but in certain cases this may be increased or decreased by one month. This amendment will allow the variation to be increased from one to two months. This will enable alignment of eligibility periods for additional children when parents already have another child in the scheme.
	Sub-section 5(3) and 5(4) will amend sections 57 and 58 of the Childcare Payments Act 2014, which set out the process for a person to a follow when they wish to apply for a review of a decision made by HMRC, or wish to do so outside the normal time limits. The amendment will provide for regulations to be made which specify the form and manner of applications made for these purposes. This will enable these requests to be required to be made digitally, except where the person is unable to do so, which will ensure consistency with the rest of the scheme.