HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is reminding working parents not to 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. In December 2021, HMRC paid out more than £34 million in top-up payments, which was shared between nearly 328,000 families across the UK.
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.