Tax free childcare on second maternity leave?

[RandomCatGenerator]

Hello

I’m expecting my second child in July, and plan to take around 9 months maternity leave.

I work a 9 day fortnight as does my husband, so DC1 is in nursery 4 days a week. He absolutely loves it and is thriving there. He will be 2 when his sibling is born. I don’t want to take DC1 out of nursery while I’m on maternity leave: I might bring him down to 3 days a week so he can spend a good amount of time with his brother, but having a newborn is full on, I found it very difficult last time, and doing it with a toddler sounds even worse.

Will I still get tax free childcare for DC1 during my mat leave for DC2?

thanks

Yes - from here
www.gov.uk/government/news/tax-free-childcare-10-things-parents-should-know

“The scheme will be available to parents on paid sick leave and paid and unpaid statutory maternity, paternity and adoption leave.”

when you make your reconfirmation there is an option for being on ML

Sorry where does it say that? All I can see is the bit saying ‘you must be in work’…

When I called last time I was on mat leave, as I wanted to put DC1 in nursery for a day a week from 6 months to gradually get him used to it, they told me it wasn’t for people on maternity leave. The woman was actually really nasty about it on the phone.

Don't worry you definitely get tax free childcare on maternity leave (you'd also get the 30 free hours as well if your DC turns 3 when you're still on ML). The reason you get it is because you're still classed as employed. Don't worry they absolutely wouldn't take it away from someone on ML !

On maternity leave you are still classed as 'in work' i.e. you are employed by your employer and continue to get the associated benefits.

It’s in there if you read all the text. they didn’t need to be nasty about it but that’s presumably because you were on mat leave having had that child. This is for a different child to the one you will be on ML for. You won’t be able to apply for the tax free childcare for your youngest until just before you return to work, but for the older one yes you continue to be eligible. I did it myself, I’m not guessing.

The lady was probably like my auntie and made a dig about me sending my older dc to nursery when I wasn't working because "in her day you looked after your kids". But what older ladies don't realise is it's better to keep your child in nursery than to remove them and also women have to work because of the cost of mortgages these days. In their day everything was cheaper! Rant over 😃

Even if it were written really clearly (which it isn’t) it’s no excuse for being horrible to people asking questions

I think the reason you couldn't claim it last time was because you cannot claim it for child 1 whilst on maternity leave for child 1. However as others have said you can continue to claim tax free childcare for child 1 whilst on maternity leave for child 2. Likewise you will not be able to claim tax free childcare for child 2 until you have finished maternity leave for child 2.

You can't claim for the child you're on maternity leave for. I called when I was on maternity leave with my second to confirm i could still use it for my firsts nursery bill and they confirmed it was fine.

Thank you all so much for the input. Very helpful and very very clear - much more so than gov.uk!

much appreciated 🙏