Quick tip from Sally at our sister site Harrogate Mumbler, who has just discovered this scheme! I thought it may be useful for others…
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I’ve just signed up for the governments “Tax Free Childcare” scheme and already I’ve saved £12 on a single day school holiday club for my two daughters next week by using this scheme. The Tax-Free Childcare scheme works like this: For every 80p you put into your Tax-Free Childcare account, the government tops it up by 20p, you then use the money to pay for childcare- effectively tax free.
The best bits?
Tax-Free Childcare covers most normal childcare providers (as long as they are with a regulator such as Ofsted, the Early Years Register or the Childcare Register) , such as; before & after school care, pre-schools, nurseries, playgroups, childminders etc. The provider must also be registered with the Tax-Free Childcare scheme so check before you try and pay with the scheme!
When you log in to your Tax-Free Childcare account, you’ll be able to see details of all local registered providers. If your setting is on there, you’ll be able to send payments directly through your account to them. When I checked there were 48 different providers registered with the Tax-Free Childcare scheme in Harrogate and 28 different providers registered with the Tax-Free Childcare scheme in Knaresborough.
It’s different from Childcare Vouchers because you don’t have to do this through your employer and it works for self employed people too. Naturally there is eligability criteria and it isn’t open to everyone so you should check the official guidance here however in brief the eligibility is this…
Eligibility (in brief)
You can check out the full eligibility criteria and apply here: gov.uk/get-tax-free-childcare
I used the scheme to pay for a day holiday club for my 2 daughters. The cost should be £30 each so £60 total. Using this scheme it has actually cost me £48, so I have saved £12.
I won’t lie, it was slightly faffy to set up the first time round, but now it’s up and running it should be much slicker next time round.
Here are the steps you need to follow;
Note: We’re not benefits experts so please take professional advice before applying, particularly if you are in receipt of other benefits.