Understanding the financial impact of parenting in England isn't easy.
Can you get 15 hours free childcare? Which nursery is cheaper? And what even is tax free childcare?
We're here to help.
How can we help?
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For parents to be, parents of babies, toddlers and school age children
Navigating the costs of parenting and childcare can be a minefield. We all know that children are expensive, but sometimes, these costs don't become apparent until you try to run the maths... and running the maths seems to be surprisingly complicated!
Help working out how to save money on childcare
The cost of childcare in England can be a shock to new parents, and navigating the various help that exists isn't easy, especially when doing it for the first time. Use our calculators and read our explainer pages to work out how much help you are entitled to.
Optimising your salary and pensions around being a parent
Should you both work part time? Should one of you stay home to save on childcare costs? Making these decisions are a highly individual and personal choice, but money issues can make it feel like no choice at all. Use the information on this site to help you make the most informed choice that you can.
New calculators coming every week
We are a brand new project that is evolving all the time and collating the information that will help you juggle parenting, work and money. Stick with us as we grow!
First Premium calculator now available!
We have created a calculator aimed at the £100-£160k per year earners to help work out whether adding extra money into pensions will save them money. Loosing the funded hours and tax free childcare can costs £1,000s per year meaning that recent pay rise actually made you poorer. Become a Milk&Money Premium subscriber today and access our calculator that helps you plan the best way to respond to this cliff edge of tax! Find out more here.
Don't know where to start?
How can we help?
A great place to start is the tax-free childcare calculator, which can save you up to £2,000 per year, per child (£4,000 per disabled child). There are earning requirements that must be met to qualify, and you'll receive the money via your tax-free childcare account. Once you have that set up, it can be hard to work out how much to top up each month, but our top-up calculator can help you determine the optimum amount to add monthly.
Those who qualify for tax-free childcare will likely also qualify for 15/30 funded hours, depending on the age of the child. The government is expanding the funded hours scheme to include children as young as 9 months. However, since the scheme is linked to school terms, determining the date that your child will qualify can be difficult. Not only does our calculator show you the dates, but it also informs you of the dates they are due to start school, where your childcare costs will change significantly.
You can use our childcare costs calculator to compare nursery providers or even just to see how much your bill changes after tax-free childcare, once your funded hours kick in. Unfortunately, every provider passes on these funded hours in different ways, so you may still need to contact them directly to find out the exact discount.
Our income calculator can help you model different wages, part-time/full-time setups, and estimate your taxes, national insurance, student loan, and pension payments. After having children, working full time can be a challenge, even with great childcare, and you can test out different scenarios, taking childcare costs into account.
Child benefit has been around for decades to help parents with the cost of raising children. However, since 2013, if the highest earner in the household earned over £50,000, they needed to do a self-assessment to repay part or all of the child benefit. From 6th April 2024, this threshold increases to £60,000. Use our child benefit calculator to estimate your higher income child benefit charge, or for those earning under the threshold, how much you'll receive. If you want to consider adding more money to your pension to try to reduce your charge, use our 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 calculators to find the optimum amount for you and your family.
We have a temporary budget day calculator to see how your income will change in the new tax year after the national insurance and child benefit changes.
Finally, for those affected by the higher income child benefit charge or earnings over £100k per year, use our adjusted net income calculator to calculate what the government views as your adjusted net income. Charitable donations and pension contributions will reduce your adjusted net income, but taxes, national insurance, and student loan repayments don't count.
We have big plans, and are working on calculators for maternity/parental leave pay, due date and other prenatal/postnatal calculators as well as more bespoke calculators for unusual circumstances. Stick with us as we grow!
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