Not receiving 20% top up from Government Tax Free Childcare

[DaisyDooox]

Hi All 😊 HNY 🥳

I've just transferred this months nursery fee (-20%) in to my Government Tax Free Child Care account and the Government have only top it up by a tiny amount £38 and not the usual 20% (normally nearly £220 which I normally receive)

I've just looked on my account and it says "You can get a maximum government top-up of £582.42 for this entitlement period. You've £0 left for this period."

Does anyone understand what this means and when the entitlement renews? I started my Tax Free Childcare account and received my top up on the 1st Oct 2024.

Thank you

Is it because it is term time only and there has been 2 weeks of Christmas holidays?

Maybe? But they talk about entitlement period but don't advise when it renews 🫤

It means you've already received the maximum top up over three months.

Holidays don't make a difference but there's a maximum available every quarter. If it says you have a maximum of 584 and you have zero left then over the last 2 months you must have transferred in enough that the top- up you received exceeded £584.

I googled for you revenuebenefits.org.uk/tax-free-childcare/guidance/how-does-tax-free-childcare-work/entitlement-periods/#:~:text=entitlement%20period%20start%3F-,How%20long%20is%20an%20entitlement%20period%3F,by%20up%20to%202%20months.&text=HMRC%20can%20alter%20the%20length,the%20person's%20first%20entitlement%20period.

You can only usually get a maximum of £500 every three months contribution from the government.

If you have been getting £220 contribution per month for Oct and Nov then you should have almost maxed out for Dec.

It should be resetting this month but check what date your account was actually approved as perhaps its officially tomorrow rather than today? The renewal date if your account was approved on the 1st October should be the 1st January.

However, I don't understand why you have a message saying a max of £584 which does suggest there's something a bit wonky happening like they have adjusted your claim period for some reason.

You can only receive 2k (4k for a disabled child) a year from the government as a top up. Made up of 4 quarterly amounts of £500. You must have overspent the £500 for your quarter. It should reset this month if you set up the account in October. You can look at your government gateway tax free childcare account to show when it will be renewed.

I agree. The 584 is weird. I thought maybe it's just because I've not used it for a while so didn't know the figure has been upped from 500 to 584 but it doesn't sound like it.

220 is a lot to get though so yes 9f you are putting in enough every month to get 220 in top-up you'll only get that for 2 months then month 3 will only be whatever is left then month 4 will reset to what ought to be 500.

Thank you 😊 your right it's because the have quarterly limits which I didn't realise 🫤

Thank you so much ❤️

Thank you 😊 your right it's because the have quarterly limits which I didn't realise 🫤

Thank you 😊 your right it's because the have quarterly limits which I didn't realise 🫤