Childcare

Every nursery will be different because they all have different charges and charge for different extras. Your best bet is to ask them what will be due (they will be asked this all the time). Then you can work out what you need to pay into the tax free childcare account xx

My plan for the first couple of months is to pay into the childcare account what I think I need to pay and see how much is left once the nursery is paid

Now our TFC account is set up, my nursery has just sent me a breakdown of what I need to pay each month and I will set that up as a monthly payment. Don't forget that you also get 20% extra on what you pay in from the government, up to £500 per quarter x

I’m struggling with the stupid website. I’ve got my temporary code, but I need to set up the tax free account to actually pay the nursery. I feel like I’m just clicking links and it’s taking me round in circles 😫😫 I like to think I’m pretty switched on but this gov website is sending me crackers!

How long ago did you apply? Mine took AGES to be approved (nearly a month) so just wasn't showing up! x

Honestly my partner called up the nursery to ask and well he apparently gets it but I'm still like whaaaaaat!!

@Louise I got my letter through early July and called to get my temporary code. So it’s been around 6 weeks since then. It’s also less than 31 days until my maternity leave ends so thought I’d be able to sort it by now. When I log on it just asks me to apply for the hours which I’ve already done. Do I just need to wait for something else to appear on my account?

Might be worth calling them. I applied early July and didn't get it approved until early August! At least then, they can check whether anything is holding it up. They were very helpful when I rang x

@Louise Do you happen to know if you're allowed both - roughly £100 a month child tax credit and the 20% tax free childcare. If not I'm sure for some people like myself who only has their child in for one day the child tax credit works out more beneficial

No idea - sorry! x

Tax free childcare accounts are taking 20+ working days to be approved at the moment. If you need it soon call them up. It said 7 days on the letter in my inbox but when I called they said it’s taking much longer because of all the funded hours stuff too