HM REVENUE and Customs has reminded parents to check whether they are eligible for tax-free childcare.
The reminder comes ahead of February half term.
Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC’s director general for customer services said that: “Parents and carers can check their eligibility and register for the scheme via. the government website.”
The childcare top up is worth up to £2,000 per year and provides eligible working families with up to £500 every three months towards the cost of holiday clubs, before and after-school clubs, childminders and nurseries, and other accredited childcare schemes.
The top-up is £1,000 if a child is disabled.
Tax-free childcare is available for children aged up to 11 years old, or 17 years old if the child has a disability.
Accounts can be opened at any time of the year and can be used straight away. For every £8 deposited into an account, families will receive an additional £2 in government top-up.
More than 50,000 working families in the South East used the scheme in September 2021.
Overall, HMRC paid out more than £35 million in top-up payments, which was shared between nearly 316,000 families across the UK – an increase of about 90,000 families compared to September 2020.
