As schools return for the new term, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is reminding working parents they could save up to £2,000 per child per year to pay towards after-school clubs and other childcare services.
Around 190,000 families in the South East are eligible for Tax-Free Childcare, which can cut thousands of pounds off childcare bills.
All families have to do is pay into their Tax-Free Childcare account and for every £8 that they deposit, the UK Government immediately makes a top-up payment of an additional £2. The scheme is open to working parents, including the self-employed, who earn between the minimum wage and £100,000 per year and have children aged 0-11 years old.
Families with a disabled child, aged 0-17 years old, can receive up to £4,000 in government support each year.
HMRC has also updated the Childcare Choices website so parents can now get personalised scheme information for each child.
Families in the South East can choose from childcare providers that have signed up to Tax-Free Childcare, including nannies, nurseries, childminders or after-school clubs.
Anglea MacDonald, HMRC’s Deputy Chief Executive and Second Permanent Secretary, says:
“As more parents across the country return to work and kids head back to school following the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, there has never been a better time to sign up to Tax-Free Childcare.
Article continues below this advertisement “It takes just minutes to set up an account on our improved and more accessible Childcare Choices website and soon you could be receiving up to £2,000 per child towards the cost of childcare each year.”
You can find out more and apply through the Childcare Choices website (www.childcarechoices.gov.uk). It includes a Childcare Calculator (www.gov.uk/childcare-calculator) that compares all the government’s childcare offers to check what works best for individual families.
As jobs become scarce, then such schemes should be ended.
As it would be far more beneficial to society for one of the parents to stay home to bring up their children correctly, rather than trying to appease their guilt at not being there for their children’s young, impressionable years, by buy endless tat for such to ease ‘their’ guilt and thus justifying their work ‘escape’ from endless entertaining what they bought into the world. How does it go? “I wouldn’t be without them; BUT….”
If you have children, then you should bring them up, fully, not dump them onto others so you can have your freedom. If you don’t want children fine, but to have your cake and yet get others to pay for it, seems morally wrong.
No small wonder we have so many ill behaved children, with just ‘paid’ staff to ‘bring them up’ whilst a treat at the weekend and a few extra ‘games’ or toys replaces real parental time and care.
Sure most will not agree, but then ‘most’ want the best of both leaving others to pick up the tab.
A most astute observation Benny. I refrain from using the prefix ‘mad’ as clearly you are anything but.
Many so called working parents just do a few short hours per month and then claim hundreds in child and working tax credits, along with heavily subsidised rent and council tax allowances.
This means they now get free child care as well, and then pay zero in tax, but drain hundreds a week out of the state to pay for what was their choice to have in the above benefits.
Agree as unemployment soars, things will need to change in the UK, as once it was only UK families milking the system, now much of the third world, something has to alter before we are bankrupt.