Tax free childcare - how does it work?

[42andcounting]

I've managed to get the account set up, is it really as simple as 1) paying money in to the gateway with a debit card, then 2) setting up a childcare provider who the government gateway will then automatically pay for me?

I've fallen at the first hurdle because our after school club is listed twice on the list of childcare providers, which has really confused me

Any advice would be great! Thanks very much

timescales are important to understand. It is not instant.

Payment in - time to clear payment varies, allow at least 1 working day for payment in and topup to be added. The account should now show cleared funds.

Payment out - this takes on average 4 working days. It does not work at weekends, or bank holidays.

The good news is that TFC are working on the banking infrastructure to improve timings but it will never be instant, so plan ahead.

There is a three month reconfirmation period - max topup per child is £500 per 3 month period.

As a childcare provider, once parents realise that it is not a bank, that payments are not instant but take around a week, then it works quite well.

No idea about a provider being listed twice.
See if you can find them using their registration and postcode. For example enter in the search box in the format:
EY123456 GU123AA

Automatically pay? No, I would not do that - log in each time and activate the payment. Maybe once you get the hang of it and know it's working then setting up some kind of automated payment might be an option if your childcare cost never changes.

You pay in
You arrange for when it will go out to your listed childcare provider

As nannynick says it takes a long time. 3 working days for money to go in and then at least 4 working days to go out in my experience. So my childminder has to send me an invoice by middle of the month to be paid on time. More complicated by the fact mine changes every month.

I wouldn't rely on the automatic set up each month because it that ever falls on a weekend it just doesn't work!

So it's straight forward but takes a long time!