Wrap around childcare

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Holiday, Half-Term & Wrap-Around Costs

It can be easy to think that your childcare costs will almost disappear once your child reaches school age, until you realise that you work more than 6 hours a day, and more than 38 weeks a year! This calculator could help you to plan ahead for those half-term surprises and reminds you to make use of tax free childcare which is available until your child is 11 years old!

Check that you're eligible for tax free childcare using our tax free childcare calculator and how much to top up your account by with our top-up calculator.

More Information

It isn't truly tax free childcare!

The tax part of tax free childcare assumes that you are a basic rate tax payer, and also ignores national insurance, or student loans (if you have them). For people that are higher rate tax payers or have student loans to pay, this won't feel like tax free childcare. It's best to ignore the name and focus on the fact that the govenment wants to pay 20% of your childcare bill (up to a limit, see the calculator above).

It is possible to use it for a wide range of childcare

If you have pre-school aged children, then tax free childcare can help significantly with your bill. However, it is still available for school aged children, whether it's holiday clubs, wrap around childcare or breakfast/after school clubs. The childcare you are using simply has to be registered with the scheme; so ensure you ask your provider!

You are limited to a certain amount each quarter

There is a £500 top up cap each quarter for non-disabled children (£1,000 for disabled children) so if your bills will be seasonal, it may be worth topping up more in months when you use less childcare to get maximal savings for the months where you need more.

How to budget for variable costs

Some months you'll find school is there for nearly all working days, while others may sting you with almost a whole month of childcare to find. This is where you may want to consider using your tax free childcare account as a savings account. You could transfer your child benefit straight into your account by direct debit as soon as you receive it, which would be £1,331 per year for your first child (£882 for any subsequent children). Or use our top-up calculator to help you work out how much you should transfer each month if you want stable costs per month, using the total annual cost you've estimated on this page.

The government top up isn't instant!

Ensure you don't wait until the day your invoice is due to top up your account. It normally takes a few hours, or even up to 24 hours for the government top up to show up. If you've used our top-up calculator to work out exactly how much you need to top up, you can always schedule your payment to your provider for the following day knowing that the government top up will be there in time.