THE school summer holidays are fast approaching, and for many parents that means a scramble to come up with childcare solutions.
This isn’t just an administrative headache – it’s also very expensive, with lots of the options available costing hundreds, if not thousands of pounds.
The good news is that there are plenty of ways to cut costs if you know where to look for help.
From government tax breaks and free childcare hours to little-known employer schemes and vouchers, we’ve rounded up all the support on offer.
If you receive Universal Credit, you can claim back some of the cost of childcare, including holiday clubs.
You can get up to 85% of the cost back, up to a limit. The maximum amount each month is £1,014.63 for one child or £1,739.37 for two or more children.
Over the six-week summer break, that adds up to roughly £1,521 for one child or £2,609 for two or more.
To get the money, the childcare you use must be with “registered” providers.
Typically, this means they are registered with OFSTED, the Care Inspectorate in Scotland, or the Care Inspectorate Wales.
Fortunately, this covers a wide range of provisions and can include nurseries, preschools, after-school clubs, breakfast clubs, childminders, nannies and holiday clubs.
If you’re someone who already gets tax credits, you can claim extra Working Tax Credit to cover some of the cost of childcare.
To qualify, you’ll need to be in approved childcare, and it must be in person rather than online.
You need to tell HMRC about any changes to your circumstances, including if your costs change by £10 a week or more.
You will get up to £122.50 a week for one child or £210 a week for two or more children.
Over the summer holidays, this adds up to £735 or £1,260.
You cannot get Tax Credits and Universal Credit at the same time.
Both childcare vouches and directly contracted childcare schemes are closed to new members, but you might still be able to take advantage of them if you joined on or before October 4, 2018.
Childcare vouchers allow you to exchange some of your salary before tax for vouchers. This means the amount remains exempt from tax and National Insurance (NI).
You can take up to £55 a week of your wages, which adds up to £330 in over the six-week holidays.
However, you will need to pay tax and NI on any money beyond this that your employer gives you for childcare, or school or childcare fees that your employer pays.
Directly contracted childcare schemes are where your employer sets up an arrangement with an external childcare provider and pays for you, and you don’t have to pay any tax on this.
You need to still be with the same employer as when you joined the scheme, and you cannot have taken an unpaid career break of more than a year.
You won’t be able to use either system if you apply for tax-free childcare, however, you can use any vouchers that you already have alongside it.
Employers are allowed to provide nursery places for their employee’s children without paying tax or NI.
The nursery must meet certain requirements, such as providing places for every worker’s children and having the appropriate registrations and approvals.
It doesn’t have to be physically located in the office, it can be in other premises that are managed and financed by the business.
Of course, not all employers offer this, but those that do save their employees £1,800 on average over the six-week summer break.
You can receive up to £2,000 per year for each of your children to help cover childcare costs. If your child is disabled, this amount increases to up to £4,000 per year.
Over the six-week summer break, this perk is worth around £230.
You can use the money for approved childcare including childminders, nurseries, nannies, after school clubs, and play schemes.
To access the scheme, you’ll either need to be working or on certain benefits.
If you’re working, you and your partner must expect to earn more than £2,379 between over the next three months if you’re aged 21 or over.
However, higher-income families are excluded from the scheme, because if either you or your partner has an adjusted net income of above £100,000 you won’t qualify.
YOU can use a benefits calculator to help check that you are not missing out on money you are entitled to
Charity Turn2Us’ benefits calculator works out what you could get.
Entitledto’s free calculator determines whether you qualify for various benefits, tax credit and Universal Credit.
MoneySavingExpert.com and charity StepChange both have benefits tools powered by Entitledto’s data.
You can use Policy in Practice’s calculator to determine which benefits you could receive and how much cash you’ll have left over each month after paying for housing costs.
Your exact entitlement will only be clear when you make a claim, but calculators can indicate what you might be eligible for.
The government has several free childcare schemes where parents can claim a set numbers of free hours each week.
All three to four-year-olds get 570 free hours per year and all parents can claim it, regardless of their income.
It’s typically taken as 15 hours a week for 38 weeks of the year, but you might be able to take fewer hours over more weeks, if your childcare provider offers this option.
However, if you are working and earn between certain limits, you might be able to get more help.
To qualify, both parents usually must earn more than £9,518 but less than £100,000 per year.
If you meet that criteria, you should be able to access:
You can claim child benefit if you have a child who is under 16 or under 20 and in approved education, such as sixth form.
You get a set amount per child, and there’s no limit to how many children you can claim for.
You get £25.60 a week for an eldest or only child, and £16.95 per week for every child thereafter.
Over the summer break, this adds up to £153.60 for one child and £101.70 for each younger child.
If you or your partner earns over £60,000, you’ll have to start paying some of the benefit back. If either earns over £80,000 then you’ll get none of the benefit.
It’s often still worth applying for, though, because you get other benefits such as NI credits. This is really important if one partner is a stay-at-home parent.
NI credits help to top up any gaps in your NI record so your state pension entitlement isn’t affected.
The money is paid back from the higher earner via tax return, or you can tick a box that says you want to apply, but don’t want to receive any of the money.
This means you keep the benefits without the admin hassle of repayments and doing self-assessment.
If you have at least one child aged under four and your family’s monthly income from employment is £408 or less, you can apply for Healthy Start vouchers.
If you get Child Tax Credit, you may be eligible for Healthy Start if your family’s annual income is £16,190 or less and you do not get Working Tax Credits.
You’ll get £8.50 each week for children from birth to one year old, then £4.25 each week for children between one and fur years old.
You can spend the money on cow’s milk, infant formula, fruit and vegetables and tinned pulses, for example.
Over the summer break, that means up to £51 to spend on food, depending on the age of your child or children.
For children aged four and older who receive benefits-related free school meals, the government’s Holiday Activities and Food scheme provides at least four weeks of holiday childcare over the summer, along with meals.
To learn how to book, contact your council’s Family Information Service.
There are also some little-known programs to assist younger parents who are still in education with childcare costs.
If you are under 20 and attending school or sixth form, you may qualify for weekly payments through the Care to Learn scheme.
This scheme can provide up to £180 per week, or £195 in London, for childcare costs, paid directly to your provider. Over six weeks, that adds up to £1,080, or £1,170 in London.
Some parents may not realise this, but many employers provide childcare for employees through a scheme called Bubble.
For instance, one mum-of-three revealed that she was saving £750 a year through the scheme.
Her employer, VertoFX allows its employees to access 50 free hours of childcare each year.
We also found that Uber offers its workers 10 hours of free babysitting each year, the National Gallery offers 30 hours, and TeachFirst, CarWow, and Vitality are all also signed up.
If your employer doesn’t offer the benefit, it might be worth speaking to HR about whether it’s something your employer might consider introducing.
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