Can someone explain TaxFree Childcare?

[Lavender19Brown]

Hi,

I have 2 kids, one is 5 and one is 2, we have been paying for Nursery care without any support or credits etc.
I stumbled across eligibility for support with childcare, done a lot of reading and applied online, we now have an online account, we have been told we are eligible for tax-free childcare and the code for the 2 year old with the new childcare 15 hours free....

However, Is is as simple as top up the GOV account and give the information over to our childcare provider? I have linked the nursery to account and I now have to top it up, but how do I know how much I need to top it up by?

Also WHY does no one want to tell you these entitlements?

If any one can share any advice or support I would really appreciate it.

Im really illiterate when it comes to maths. & have genuinly struggled trying to get this 580 payment together.

In the calculator. That also said to put in 580.
The maths just isnt computing in my head.

20%of 580 is 116.
So there would be a shortfall in my invoice of 720.

Your way also leads me to a 580 figure.
So it must be me doing something wrong

You get 20% of the whole bill which will be an additional 25% of what you've paid. It's a maths sum....but correct.

@allthingsred
80% of £720 is £580
so 20% of £720 is £140
so £140 (the top up) is 25% of £580.

if you take off 20% (leaving 80%) you need to add back 25% to get back to the original number. This is because 20% is a quarter (25%) of 80%.

Hope that makes sense.

It's really simple. Here's how we do it.

We pay in a set amount by DD every month. I have set up regular payments to the childcare provider so they go out automatically on the date I've set.

Any spare money at the end of the year I just withdraw back into my account.

You can do manual payments but it relies on you to remember to go in and do it. When we used nursery the payments were monthly. Now we use afterschool care I just set the dates at the start of the academic year.

The rules are that both parents must work a minimum of 16 hours a week and neither can earn over £100k ( as an individual not household)

Thank you @Chocolatebuttonns 🙂

Use your phone calculator.

Full bill (720) - 20% (144) = how much to pay in. (576).