Parents urged to check whether they could get childcare costs top-up

Parents are being urged to check whether they could be eligible for funding towards their childcare costs.

More than 401,300 families collectively benefited from £44.4 million in government funding towards childcare costs in September 2022, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) said.

But it added that thousands of families are still missing out on the Tax-Free Childcare top-up.

Tax-Free Childcare provides working families, earning up to £100,000 a year, with financial help towards childcare.

For every £8 paid into a Tax-Free Childcare online account, families automatically receive an additional £2 from the government. They can receive up to £500 every three months (adding up to £2,000 a year), or £1,000 (£4,000 a year) if their child has disabilities.

The top-up payments can be used to pay for approved childcare for children aged 11 or under, or up to 17 if the child has a disability, whether the child goes to nursery, a child minder, has term-time wraparound care or attends a holiday club.

Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC’s director general for customer services, said: “We know childcare can be expensive so using Tax-Free Childcare can make a huge difference to household finances. To find out more, search ‘Tax-Free Childcare’ on gov.uk.”