To be confused by HMRC childcare top up

[Fifi878]

So nursery fees are due the end of the week.

but my top up is not due until start of next week.
We pay just over a grand a month so get the full entitlement- £500 every 3 months. (Normally around £212 ish x2 and then the rest comes out of the 3rd payment - about £68). If I pay now will we still get the full top up over next few months or will we miss out?

I’m so confused
I have in the past paid nursery fees a day late so I can get my top up first but I can’t really keep doing that.
tia x

My understanding is that you get the top up when you pay in, rather than when you pay out. So you would still be able to use the top up for future months payments even if it's too late for this month.

Do you mean the tax free childcare? The top up goes in when you pay in 😂 so you are causing the late payments yourself. Take 20% off the total nursery fee due- pay that amount into the account and the government pay in the rest totalling the whole bill due. Then pay it to the nursery.

You get the top up when you pay in, it's just that you won't get more than £500 every three months as a top up. So if your nursery fees are more than £2,000 every three months (or £667 per month) then the amount that you pay into your tax free childcare account in excess of that £2,000 won't get topped up.

i put it n two weeks ago, but it didn’t tip up yet so I’ve had to put the full amount in. (Usually I would put in £850 in months one and two, then £950 the third month or so).
but I’ve had to put in £1050 because it didn’t top up.

so does that mean if I put in £850 the next two months I’ll miss out? Or should I put in extra to get the full £500 off ?

why am I so confused 😂

Also thanks I appreciate you’re all trying to help me and I’m being an idiot lol

Oh and yes I mean the tax free childcare x

The top up is instant when you put money into your account, so there's no reason it shouldn't have topped up, unless you'd used all your allowance up.

Yes I’ve used up my allowance but my next nursery payment comes out before my allowance s topped up.
so I’m thinking I’ll need to put in a bit more that £850 each for the next two months to get the full allowance?

If you put £850 in for the next two months, you'll get £212.50 as a top up each month, but then if you need to pay nursery £1,062.50 the month after that you can just put in £987.50 and you'll get a £75 top up. £212.50 + £212.50 + £75 = £500 so that's your £500 for the next three months.

Or, you could even it all out by working out how much you need to pay to nursery each three month period, multiply by three, subtract £500 and then divide that by three and that is how much you need to pay in each month. So say your nursery fees are £1,000 per month - that's £3,000 for the three months but you will get a £500 top up towards that. So you need to pay in £2,500 over three months so that is £834 per month.

Month one you will pay in £834, it will be topped up by £208.50 to £1,042.50, you pay nursery £1,000 and £42.50 will be left in your account.
Month two will be the same so pay in £834, topped up by £208.50 to £1,042.50, you pay nursery £1,000 and £85 will be left in your account.In month three you would pay in £834, you only get £83 top up because you've reached the £500 limit, but you've got the £85 left from the other two months so you have £834 + £83 + £85 in your account. That's £1,002 so enough to pay your £1,000 for that month.

I feel there is some massive overthinking going on here 😂Now it's confusing me!

Thanks that is helpful.

I think it’s confused me because the nursery fee date changed - so whereas before it came out after pay day it’s now coming out before and I’m not due a top up yet so I’m thinking I might just have to miss out on top up this month. But I don’t know if that means I can get it back in the next couple months or if I just lose some of my top up. My brain is fried 😭

Sorry for creating confusion!

My first top up in a given period always takes 3 weeks, then the next 2 are same day. No idea why. It’s annoying but then once you get going with monthly top ups it doesn’t really matter as long as you started with enough in your account at the beginning.

If you've used up your allowance, you won't get anymore this quarter. So just pay in whatever you need to pay in order to pay your nursery bill.

The next time you need to make a payment, pay in whatever and the top up for the next quarter will start.

I never paid in set amounts. I paid in 80% of the nursery bill each month ahead of when it was due, it added the 20%, then I paid the bill.

This is assuming that using up your allowance is the issue. Double check that you don't need to reconfirm your eligibility or that you haven't in some other way made yourself ineligible.

Nothing more to add than that sucks about the nursery bill being due before pay day