The government will pay a fifth of your childcare bill — £2 for every £8 you put in, up to £2,000 a year per child. Hundreds of thousands of eligible families never claim it. See what you could get, and check the gates that rule people out.
Tick “disabled” only if the child gets Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, Armed Forces Independence Payment, Child Disability Payment or Adult Disability Payment in Scotland, or is certified blind or severely sight-impaired. That doubles the limit to £1,000 every 3 months and extends it to 1 September after their 16th birthday.
Adjusted net income — roughly your total taxable income, less any pension contributions you make and Gift Aid donations.
Tax-Free Childcare cannot be used alongside any of those. Claiming it stops your Universal Credit, so this is a choice, not a top-up — for lower earners Universal Credit childcare support is often worth more.
| Childcare bill | You pay | Gov adds |
|---|
An illustration based on the published Tax-Free Childcare rules for 2026/27 — information only, not financial advice, and not a decision on your claim. Only HMRC can tell you whether you qualify, and you must reconfirm your details every 3 months to keep the account open. The minimum-earnings test here assumes steady income across the year at the rate for age 21 and over; it works differently for the self-employed, for under-21s and apprentices, and in your first year of self-employment. Money paid into the account can only be spent with an approved provider. Nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere.
Tax-Free Childcare is one of the plainest deals the government offers: open an online childcare account, pay your nursery or childminder from it, and every £8 you put in becomes £10. There is no means test in the usual sense and no tapering — you either qualify or you do not.
That is also the catch. The gates are absolute. If either parent expects an adjusted net income over £100,000, the whole household is out, however little the other one earns. If either of you earns less than the equivalent of 16 hours a week at minimum wage, you are out. And you cannot hold it at the same time as Universal Credit, tax credits or childcare vouchers — applying for it stops your Universal Credit, which for lower earners is very often the more valuable of the two. This is a choice between schemes, not a top-up on one.
The cap is worth understanding properly, because it is quarterly rather than annual. £500 per child every three months means a bill above roughly £833 a month stops earning anything more. A family whose costs spike over the summer can lose top-up in that quarter and never get it back, even though their yearly total sits well under the limit. Paying in more evenly across the year is sometimes worth a few hundred pounds on its own.
The £100,000 test is the one worth a second look, because it is measured on adjusted net income rather than salary — and pension contributions reduce it. A parent a little over the line may be able to bring themselves back under, restoring the childcare top-up and part of the personal allowance in the same move. Our pension tax relief calculator shows what that costs and what it gives back, and the £100,000 tax trap explains why that stretch of income behaves so strangely.
One decision deserves more care than any of this: Tax-Free Childcare cannot be held alongside Universal Credit, and applying for it stops your claim. Universal Credit can cover up to 85% of childcare costs where this covers 20%, so for lower earners it is very often the better of the two. If there is any chance you qualify for Universal Credit, read our comparison before you apply for anything.
You open an online childcare account and pay money into it. For every £8 you put in, the government adds £2, and you pay your childcare provider from the account. Another way of saying the same thing: the government covers a fifth of the bill, so £10 of childcare costs you £8. The provider has to be signed up to the scheme, which most nurseries, childminders, after-school clubs and holiday clubs are.
£500 every three months per child — up to £2,000 a year — or £1,000 every three months if your child is disabled, up to £4,000 a year. The cap works per quarter, not per year, so an unusually expensive quarter can hit the ceiling even when your annual bill is well under the limit — and spreading payments evenly can be worth hundreds. That is one of several rules that catch people out; we list the rest in the rules that catch parents out.
The limit doubles to £1,000 every three months — £4,000 a year — and runs until 1 September after your child’s 16th birthday rather than ending at 11. The money can also go towards certain specialist equipment, not just childcare hours. It turns on a specific benefit-based test, which we set out in Tax-Free Childcare for disabled children.
No — and applying for it will stop your Universal Credit. That matters, because Universal Credit can cover up to 85% of childcare costs against the 20% here, so switching can be an expensive mistake. It is a choice between two schemes, not an extra on top. We compare them properly in Tax-Free Childcare vs Universal Credit, which is worth reading before you apply for anything.
The whole household stops qualifying, even if the other parent earns very little. The test is on adjusted net income, which is not the same as salary — pension contributions and Gift Aid donations reduce it. That means someone a little over the line may be able to bring themselves back under it, and the same move restores part of the personal allowance at the same time. Whether that is sensible for you is a bigger question than this calculator can answer.
You and your partner each need to expect to earn at least the equivalent of the minimum wage for 16 hours a week, over the next three months. Being self-employed counts, and there are allowances for the first year of self-employment and for irregular income. Being on sick leave, annual leave, or shared parental, maternity or paternity leave generally still counts. If one of you cannot work because of a disability or caring responsibilities, different rules may apply.
Yes. The government-funded hours and Tax-Free Childcare are separate schemes and can run alongside each other. Plenty of families use the funded hours for the core provision and the childcare account for the extra hours, meals, or holiday cover on top.
You have to reconfirm your details every three months to keep the account open, which is where a lot of people slip up and lose the top-up without noticing. If you go over the income limit, or stop meeting the working requirement, you must tell HMRC. Money already in the account stays yours to spend on approved childcare, and you can withdraw your own contributions — though the government top-up on anything you withdraw goes back.
No. This is general information and an illustration based on the published rules — not advice, and not a decision on your claim. Only HMRC can tell you whether you qualify and how much you would get. Apply and check your circumstances on GOV.UK.
Childcare is paid out of take-home pay, so the number that matters is what actually reaches your account each month.
