Tax free childcare/ two kids/ nanny

[Miriam101]

Please can someone tell me if I've been a complete idiot? For the past 18 months our nanny has been looking after both our two kids (one after school only, the other several days a week- he's a toddler). We pay her through the tax-free childcare scheme. But I realised the other day I've only been claiming the top-up for one child. Am I eligible to claim a separate top-up for the second child, even though the amount that we're paying in childcare hasn't gone up hugely? (We did give our nanny a well-deserved raise when she started looking after our second but it's obviously not doubled or anything!) I'm finding it a bit confusing online. Grateful for any advice.

Yes it's 2k per each child.

Do the costs of a nanny come in less than a nursery? I did the sums and a nanny works out more expensive for me. Be interested to know if it's the same for you

Yes, if your costs are over £20,000 then you should be able to put £8,000 in each child account, get the £2000 (£500 per 3 month period) topup and pay out to your nanny from each child account.
I am not a parent so have not seen the parent side of Tax Free Childcare but that is how it should work, in theory. Would be interested to know how it works in reality... is it as simple as paying in to each 'child' account?

Thank you both. As a parent I find the tax free childcare system really non-user friendly, @nannynick! But I'm going to start shipping money into both the children's accounts and see what happens, whether it affects the top-up. Will report back.

@threeisacharm18 We decided to go for our nanny for reasons other than money, at a time when we only had one child, so never did the maths to the extent you have by the sounds of things. But I do definitely think it would be cheaper than having both in a nursery at the same time (that's never been necessary for us though as three year age gap).