Tax Free Childcare Scheme Term Time Only?

[ChooChoosey]

How does it work?

I'm only going off of the calculator I've used which doesn't account for this.

When applying, do you put in the figure for the highest amount you pay monthly and they continue to pay that all year around or do you work out an average cost? Does the form ask about fluctuations in the monthly cost for childcare?

Are you talking about universal credit?

Tax free childcare you just pay 80% of your invoice in to the account and they will add the top up (20% of your invoice) almost immediately. If you don't pay for childcare during the hols then you don't need to do anything.

Tax free childcare does not have any restrictions on whether your child care is term time only. I think you might be getting confused with the 'funded hours' which work out as 30 hours term time only, but roughly 22 hours if you use childcare all year.

In basic terms, for every £100 you pay in, the government tops it up by £20, so your balance in your childcare account will show £120. The government will only add up to £500 every three months (so up to £2000 a year). You need to reconfirm you are still eligible every 3 months, at which point the £500 allocation is reset.

If you wanted to work out the exact amount you needed to pay in so your bill is covered, then you would divide you nursery invoice amount by 1.2. A lot of people (myself included) just pay a rough amount in to make sure there is enough in the account...you can always withdraw any excess back into your bank account if needed.

As with most things government related, it all seems unnecessarily complicated at times but it is worth persevering to reduce the childcare bill!