Tax-Free Childcare will be available to around 2 million households to help with the cost of childcare, enabling more parents to go out to work, if they want to.
If you're a working parent with children under 12 (or under 17 for disabled children), you can open an online account to pay for registered childcare.
The government will top-up the money you pay into the account. For every £8 you pay in, the government will add an extra £2. You can receive up to £2,000 per child - that's up to £500 every 3 months. If you have a disabled child, you can receive up to £4,000 per child - that's up to £1,000 every 3 months.
You, and any partner, must each expect to earn (on average) at least £120 per week (equal to 16 hours at the National Minimum or Living Wage). If you, or your partner, are on maternity, paternity or adoption leave, or you're unable to work because you are disabled or have caring responsibilities, you could still be eligible.
You can use it to help pay:
- registered childminders, nurseries and nannies
- registered after-school clubs and playschemes
- registered schools
- home careworkers working for a registered home care agency
You can even use the Tax-Free Childcare alongside the 30 Hours Childcare.
To get an estimate of how much help you could get with childcare costs, visit - GOV.UK - Childcare calculator.
Or you can find out more by visiting Childcare Choices.