The roll-out of Tax-Free Childcare is now complete, following the extension of the scheme to parents of children under the age of 12.
Parents can now receive up to £2,000 per child per year, or £4,000 for a disabled child, towards their childcare costs. It can be put used for a range of regulated childcare from childminders to holiday clubs. Parents and employers can find out what help is available on the Childcare Choices website.
When a parent in receipt of Employer-Supported Childcare – better known as childcare vouchers – chooses to join Tax-Free Childcare, they will need to provide their employer with a written document (which can be an email) stating that they wish to leave their employer’s voucher scheme and use Tax-Free Childcare. A parent will have 90 days from opening their Tax-Free Childcare account to give their notification to their employer. At this point, the employer will need to terminate the employee’s access to Employer-Supported Childcare.
Tax-Free Childcare will eventually replace the existing ‘childcare voucher’ scheme. Parents can still join an Employer-Supported Childcare scheme as long as they receive a childcare voucher before 5 April 2018. Parents who want to continue using childcare vouchers after April 2018 will be able to, as long as their current employer continues to offer the voucher scheme.
Parents can use the online childcare calculator on the Childcare Choices website to weigh up which offering is best for their circumstances.
More information and guidance about Tax-Free Childcare and how it interacts with Employer-Supported Childcare can be found here.
