Do we benefit from the new childcare support in April if we earn over £100k?

[R1991]

I’m trying to get my head around the new childcare benefits and I can’t work it out. I understand 2 year olds will benefit from 15 hours from April 2024 (brought forward from turning 3), but do we get this if one of the parents earn over £100k? Thanks so much

@belladonna22 Thanks for your clarification. I must have assumed that the extension would be under the same criteria for 3–4-year-olds, but it appears that’s not the case.

I was going to edit my earlier post to explain I got it wrong but it won’t let me.

…but once it gets to university level, it is household income that is considered, even if the household adults are a mum and stepdad.

it is all a bit inconsistent!

Yes even if no shared finances. That one is very odd but I suppose goes with the one in the house earning over 100k and disregarding maintenance for benefit calculations but not step dad's income.

There are other benefits and other funded childcare hours available for those in some of these situations. I currently have a funded 2 year old for 15 hours for a single parent who isn't working.

The funded hours about to start in April is the Working Parents Entitlement

I'm just saying if you're household income is over £100k, you probably don't need help with childcare payments.

This with bells on

But why shouldn’t you, when you’re paying into the tax system which enables the system to exist at all? It’s not just about childcare, it’s about early years education.

Would you say that someone earning over £100k can probably afford private school so shouldn’t be allowed a state place? Or should be able to afford private healthcare so shouldn’t be able to take their kids to the GP? Or can afford to have a swing set in their garden so shouldn’t use the one at the park?

My DH and I cut our hours and paid more in to pensions for a few years so we had more time with our children and got the 30 free hours. No regrets. We now have children in private school so we aren't using the state system. Our second DD is in reception and gets the 15 hours the whole year due to her summer birthday.

I can't get my head around people who come onto threads and add comments that are completely unhelpful and judgemental and yet here we are. Let me break it down for you:

A person earning over 100k gets 67k post tax. Bear in mind most people earning over 100k are going to living in london. you have two kids. I am going with suburb amounts cos thats where i live but imagine in london proper would be waaay more.

Nursery fees full time for two kids here would be - £37,000 a year round here (and that's not one of the expensive things). That's more than half your take home pay!

A three bed house minimum would be £2000pcm for either rent or mortgage so call that £24k a year. Council tax is an additional £2k a year, gas and electric and water etc say another £3k, commuting into central london = £3k a year.

So that adds up to £69k a year and that's before the cost of a car, clothes, food, going out. that is just the basic necessities.

Someone earning £99k gets £600 a YEAR less but saves approx £22k on their childcare cost. PLUS they get the tax free childcare so that saves an addition £4k per year.

So the difference in earning £600 a year net could cost you £26k a year. You have to be earning i think £153k to get back to the same disposable income as you had at £99k

Seeing the problem here for those earning £100-150k? oh and between £100k-£125k you also start losing your personal allowance and at £125k start paying additional tax.

when things end on a cliff edge you make parents need to give up their careers just to pay for their childcare.