Information for Childcare providers

Tax-Free Childcare

What does Tax-Free Childcare mean for me?

Tax-Free Childcare is a UK wide offer. Eligible working parents with children 11 or under can get up to £2,000 per child, per year, towards their childcare costs (or up to £4,000 for disabled children 16 or under).

Parents using the scheme open an online childcare account which they use to pay you directly for childcare. Payments work just as they do through an online bank account. Each payment is accompanied by a reference number for each child so you can identify their payments.

You will only be able to receive Tax-Free Childcare payments from your customers if you’ve signed up to Tax-Free Childcare. 

Tax-Free Childcare is replacing childcare vouchers. Signing up to Tax-Free Childcare does not affect any payments you receive through childcare voucher schemes.

You can find information and materials on Childcare Choices in our 'Guidance and Resources' area:

Guidance and Resources

How do I sign up as a provider?

An invitation letter will be sent to you once we receive your details from your regulator. If you’ve recently registered as a childcare provider, this may take a few weeks.

Your invitation letter will contain your unique user ID to sign up online to Tax-Free Childcare and will also tell you what other details you need to sign up. If you haven’t received your invitation letter, contact the childcare service helpline.

How to identify a Tax-Free Childcare payment 

When a parent pays you using their childcare account, the transaction will appear on your bank statement as National Savings A.

This entry should also contain the child’s:

  • childcare reference number, made up of 4 letters and 5 numbers. The letters are the first initial and the first 3 letters of the child’s surname, for example, AJON12345
  • Tax-Free Childcare account number. This will be 13 digits long and start with 1100, and should contain the letters TFC, for example, TFC 1100012345678.

If your bank displays payment information differently and you are unable to identify a parent's payment, you can submit a payment reconciliation form or call the childcare service helpline on 0300 123 4097.

30 hours free childcare

What does 30 hours mean for me?

30 hours childcare is available to eligible working families of 3 and 4 year olds in England. This is an additional 15 hours on top of the 15 hours available to all parents of three and four year olds. Just like the 15 hours entitlement, you do not have to offer 30 hours childcare.

From April 2024, even more eligible working parents in England will be eligible to get help with their childcare costs. 

What do parents need to know? 

Parents can check their eligibility for 30 hours through the childcare calculator and apply for 30 hours and Tax-Free Childcare through the childcare service.

If eligible, the parent will receive an 11-digit eligibility code. Before a parent can take up a place they must bring their code, national insurance number and child’s date of birth to you so you can check that their code is valid. You should encourage parents to bring you their code as soon as they receive it. Parents cannot take up a 30 hours place until you have validated their code. Your local authority will be able to provide you with information about the process for validating codes in your area.

Every three months parents will need to confirm that the details they entered on their application are up to date. We’ll send them email reminders and text messages to do this, but it is good practice for you to remind parents as well.

How will I be paid?

Once you have validated the parent’s code and checked that the child is the correct age to take up their place (further information about this can be found in the operational guidance), you will be paid through the local procedures for headcount claims just like the 15 hours entitlement.

Is there more information available? 

You can find more information on 30 hours and materials to share with parents (e.g. flyers, posters, email templates and social media content) in our 'Guidance and Resources' area:

Guidance and Resources

There is a range of additional resources available for providers to inform and support you to deliver 30 hours free childcare to parents. These include:

The Family Childcare Trust has also developed a Partnership Toolkit. Information on partnership working can also be found in the Operational Guidance.