Working parents could get up to £2,000 a year to pay for
regulated childcare, including holiday clubs and out-of-school
activities in the Easter holidays.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is reminding working
parents in the UK to not miss out on the opportunity to get up to
£2,000 a year to pay for regulated childcare, including holiday
clubs and other out-of-school activities, during the Easter
holidays.
Tax-Free Childcare provides thousands of eligible working
families with up to £500 every three months (or £1,000 if their
child is disabled) towards the cost of holiday clubs, before and
after-school clubs, childminders and nurseries, and other
approved childcare schemes.
For every £8 deposited into a Tax-Free Childcare online account,
families will receive an additional £2 in government top-up, and
it is available for children aged up to 11, or 17 if the child
has a disability.
About 328,000 working families used Tax-Free Childcare across the
UK in December 2021, receiving a share of £34 million in
government top-up payments towards their childcare costs.
With recent research estimating that around 1.3 million families
could be taking up this government support, parents and carers
can check their eligibility and register for Tax-Free Childcare
via GOV.UK.
This scheme can help working families including the self-employed
and is one of many ways the government is supporting households
to reduce their costs and keep more of what they earn to help pay
for other bills.
, HM Treasury’s Exchequer
Secretary to the Treasury, said:
There are lots of brilliant holiday clubs and childcare providers
to help working parents during the Easter holidays, and Tax-Free
Childcare is a great offer that can help cut the childcare bills.
I urge families across the UK to take advantage of this support
and put extra pounds in their pocket - sign up now and save on
your childcare costs.
By depositing money into their accounts, families can benefit
from the 20% top-up and use the money to pay for childcare costs
when they need it. Accounts can be opened at any time of the year
and can be used straight away.
For example, if parents and carers have school-aged children and
use holiday clubs during school holidays, they could deposit
money into their accounts throughout the year. This means they
could spread the cost of childcare while also benefitting from
the 20% government top-up. Any unused money that is deposited can
be simply withdrawn at any time.
Tax-Free Childcare is also available for pre-school aged children
attending nurseries, childminders, or other childcare providers.
Families with younger children will often have higher childcare
costs than families with older children, so the tax-free savings
can really make a difference.
Childcare providers can also sign up for a childcare provider account
via GOV.UK to receive payments from parents and carers via
the scheme.
Further information
For more information about Tax-Free Childcare.
For more information about government childcare offers.
Parents and carers could be eligible for Tax-Free Childcare if
they:
- have a child or children aged up to 11. They stop being
eligible on 1 September after their 11th birthday. If their child
has a disability, they may get up to £4,000 a year until they are
17
- earn, or expect to earn, at least the National Minimum Wage
or Living Wage for 16 hours a week, on average
- each earn under £100,000 per annum
- do not receive tax credits, Universal Credit or childcare
vouchers
Latest Tax-Free Childcare
statistics were released on 16 February 2022. Data is
available up to December 2021.
HMRC has produced a
refreshed Tax-Free
Childcare guide for parents, which explains the reasons and
benefits for signing up to the scheme.
Each eligible child requires their own Tax-Free Childcare
account. If families have more than one eligible child, they will
need to register an account for each child. The 20% government
top-up is then applied to deposits made for each child, not
household.
Account holders must confirm their details are up to date every 3
months to continue receiving the government top-up.
