Tax Free Childcare is now available to around 140,000 families in the North West whose youngest child is under six.



Parents, including the self-employed, can apply online for Tax-Free Childcare – part of the government’s Childcare Choices offer – for children who were aged under six on 24 November 2017. It will cut childcare costs for working families by up to £2,000 per child per year, or £4,000 for disabled children.



Tax-Free Childcare will be gradually rolled out to parents with children aged under 12, with everyone who is eligible able to apply by the end of March 2018.



The money can go towards a whole range of regulated childcare, whether nurseries, childminders, after school clubs or holiday clubs. Parents can find out what help is available on the Childcare Choices website www.childcarechoices.gov.uk. This website includes a Childcare Calculator (www.gov.uk/childcare-calculator) that compares all the government’s childcare offers to check what works best for individual families.

Once eligible parents have opened their new account they can start paying their childcare provider straightaway, using the government contribution.



Parents apply for both Tax-Free Childcare and 30 hours free childcare through a single online application. 30 hours free childcare is available to working parents of three and four year olds in England. Parents should apply online now to get their eligibility codes in good time if they plan to use 30 hours free childcare from January 2018, when the next term starts.



Liz Truss, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said:



“Tax-Free Childcare will cut thousands of pounds from childcare bills for millions of families, making it easier for more parents to work if they want to. This is part of our commitment to support families, including helping them to earn more and keep more of what they earn by increasing the National Living Wage and cutting Income Tax for millions of people.”



These offers build on the childcare support already available to thousands of families in the North West, including:



· 15 hours free childcare for three and four-year old children

· 15 hours for some two-year olds

· 30 hours free childcare for three and four-year-old children of working families

· enhanced childcare support through Universal Credit

· tax credits for childcare

· childcare vouchers.