HMRC can help towards the cost of children’s summer holiday activities

Tax-Free Childcare – a childcare top-up for working parents – can be used to help pay for accredited holiday clubs, childminders or sports activities

Working families in the North West can use Tax-Free Childcare to help pay for their childcare costs over the summer.

Tax-Free Childcare – a childcare top-up for working parents – can be used to help pay for accredited holiday clubs, childminders or sports activities – giving parents and carers that extra peace of mind that their child is having fun during the school summer holidays and it can save them money.

Tax-Free Childcare is available for children aged up to 11, or 17 if the child has a disability. And for every £8 deposited into an account, families will receive an additional £2 in government top-up, capped at £500 every three months, or £1,000 if the child is disabled.

Parents and carers can check their eligibility and register for Tax-Free Childcare. They can apply for an account at any time and start using it straight away. By depositing money into their accounts, families can benefit from the 20% top-up and use the money to pay for childcare costs when they need to, for example, during the summer holidays.

Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC’s Director General for Customer Services, said: “We want to help kids stay active this summer, whether they are going to summer holiday clubs or a childminder. A childcare top-up will go a long way towards helping parents plan and pay for summer activities to keep their kids happy and healthy.”

A total of 36,795 working families used their account in March 2021 in the North West. And in the same month, HMRC paid out more than £33 million in top-up payments, which was shared between more than 282,000 families across the UK.

Tax-Free Childcare is also available for pre-school aged children attending nurseries, childminders or other childcare providers. Families with younger children will often have higher childcare costs than families with older children, so the tax-free savings can really make a difference.

Childcare providers can also sign up for a childcare provider account to receive payments from parents and carers via the scheme.