A little known code issued by HMRC can give you between £2,000 and £4,000 a year – but you must apply this week.
His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs administers Tax-Free Childcare, the slightly misleadingly named scheme which sees parents paid between £500 and £1,000 every three months, up to a maximum of £2,000 or £4,000 a year.
Tax-Free Childcare hands parents a wedge of cash towards the cost of their nursery care, or it can also be used to fund nurseries, nannies, after school clubs and play schemes.
In order to claim the money, you need to set up a Tax-Free Childcare account, and this must be done by Saturday, August 31.
Then, HMRC will send you a code – and you give this code to your childcare provider, such as a nursery, and they can then claim the money.
Most nurseries will bake the money into their charges, so for example a nursery costing £100 a day would be reduced to £80 a day using the money, up to a maximum of £2,000 off your bills for the year.
If your child is disabled, the money given by government is doubled to £4,000.
To qualify, you must be working and your child must be over nine months old by August 31 to apply for the cash this coming school term.
If you aren’t working, you may still be eligible if you claim a benefit like Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance, Carer’s Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance.
If in work, you must be earning at least £2,379 in total over the next three months if you’re aged over 21 in order to qualify, which is the National Minimum Wage for 16 hours per week on average.
The government says: “Your child must be 11 or under and usually live with you. They stop being eligible on 1 September after their 11th birthday.
“Adopted children are eligible, but foster children are not.
“If your child is disabled and usually lives with you, you may get up to £4,000 a year until 1 September after their 16th birthday. They’re eligible for this if they: get Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, Armed Forces Independence Payment, Child Disability Payment (Scotland only) or Adult Disability Payment (Scotland only; are certified as blind or severely sight-impaired.
You must also be a legal UK resident with a National Insurance Number.
