In this section:

Which children can you claim tax credits for?
Help with childcare costs - do you qualify?
Children with disabilities and tax credits - who qualifies?
Can you claim tax credits if you're not the child's parent?
Claiming tax credits if your child lives at more than one address
Who can claim tax credits if your child has a child?

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Help with childcare costs - do you qualify?

Help with childcare costs - do you qualify?

If you work and pay for childcare you may be able to get tax credits to help with the costs. You have to work for at least 16 hours a week to qualify. You may still qualify if you worked 16 hours or more before going on maternity, paternity, adoption or sick leave.

How much can you get?

You can get up to 80 per cent of what you pay in childcare, to a maximum of:

£175 per week for one child
£300 per week for two or more children

The amount you get depends on your income. The lower your income, the more tax credits you can get.

Which childcare qualifies?

You must use registered or approved childcare which may be provided by:

a childminder, nursery, play scheme or a club that is registered to provide childcare
someone approved under the home Childcare Approval Schemes in England, Wales and Northern Ireland who provides childcare in your child’s home or in domestic premises
a school, out of school hours and on school premises – but special arrangements apply in England and these are explained below
a care worker or nurse from an agency registered for providing care in the home, for example, a domiciliary care worker
an approved foster carer, but the care must be for a child who is not the carer’s foster child

You must check your childcare provider is registered or approved.

What is registered childcare

Your childcare provider will need to be registered by one of the following:

Ofsted in England – but there are different registration arrangements and these are explained below
The Care and Social Services Inspectorate for Wales
The Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care
A Health and Social Services Board or Trust in Northern Ireland

Ofsted registered childcare providers will need to be registered as follows:

if your child is under 5, they must be registered on the Early Years Register
if your child is aged 5 to 7, the provider must register on the compulsory part of the General Childcare Register
if your child is aged 8 or over, the childcare provider must be registered on the voluntary part of the General Childcare Register

There will be some providers in England who do not need to register on the Early Years Register or the compulsory part of the General Childcare Register. For example, activity-based childcare such as sports clubs or nannies because they provide care in the child’s own home. They must register on the voluntary part of the General Childcare Register if they want to be eligible childcare providers for tax credits.

You should check that your provider is registered on the correct Childcare Register.

If your child is looked after by a relative

You can't usually claim tax credits for childcare provided by relatives even if they're registered or approved. A relative could be your child's:

parent
grandparent
aunt or uncle
brother or sister
step-parent

The exception to this rule is when your child is cared for by a relative who is either:

a registered or approved childminder caring for your child outside of the child's own home
a childcare provider, approved under a Home Child Care Providers Scheme in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, caring for your child outside of the child's own home and they also care for at least one other child who is not related to them

Childcare provided by a school in England

You can claim tax credits to help with the costs of childcare provided by a school if any of the following applies:

Your child is 3 or 4 years old and the care is provided by or under the direction of the school’s governing body. This can either be on the school premises or on other premises that are included in any Ofsted inspection of the whole school.
Your child is aged 5 to 15, or is 16 and disabled, and the care is provided outside of school hours by or under the direction of the school’s governing body. The care must either be on the school’s premises or on other premises, for example a village hall, included in any Ofsted inspection of the whole school.
Your child’s school uses an external childcare provider as long as they are registered on the Early Years Register if your child is under 5 years old, on the compulsory part of General Childcare Register if your child is aged between 5 and 7and on the voluntary part of the General Childcare Register if your child is aged 8 years old or more. You should check that the childcare provider is on the correct Register.

How to find out if your childcare provider is registered or approved

You should ask to see their registration or approval certificate.

There is more information about what we mean by registered and approved childcare in the leaflet Help with the costs of childcare.

Download the leaflet 'Help with the costs of childcare' (PDF 651K)

Childcare vouchers

You can't claim help for childcare costs that are:

paid by your employer either in cash or in voucher given to you towards the cost of your childcare
paid by your local authority or your local education authority, to you, your childcare provider or school for early learning or nursery education if your child is under the age of 5.
met by other Government funding towards your childcare costs because you are a student, or you are starting work.

If your employer offers you childcare vouchers and you want to know if you'd be better off having the vouchers or claiming for help with childcare costs through tax credits, you can use our calculator. The results won't always be exact, but they should give you a rough idea of whether you'd be better off with or without the vouchers.

Childcare vouchers or tax credits calculator

Can you claim if you don't work 16 hours a week?

If you're a lone parent

If you're a single parent you must work 16 hours or more a week to claim help with childcare costs.

If you're part of a couple

Generally you and your partner must both work 16 hours or more a week to claim help. Only one of you has to work 16 hours or more if one of you is:

ill or disabled and claiming disability benefits
in hospital
in prison - serving a custodial sentence or remanded in custody awaiting trial or sentence

If you're on maternity, paternity or adoption leave

You can claim help with childcare costs if you're on maternity or adoption leave for 39 weeks or less and you were working 16 hours or more before going on leave.

If you don't return to work after 39 weeks you won't qualify any more. It's important you let us know if don't go back to work after 39 weeks.

You can also claim help with childcare costs for the two weeks you are on paternity leave.

How maternity, paternity and adoption leave affects your tax credits

If you're off sick

You can claim help with childcare costs if you're off sick for 28 weeks or less. But you must have been working for at least 16 hours a week before you went off.
If you don't return to work after 28 weeks you won't qualify any more. It's important you let us know if you don't go back to work after 28 weeks.

How to claim help with childcare costs

You can only claim help with childcare costs if you've already arranged your childcare. You can't claim in advance.

If you're making a new claim

If you're making a new claim for help with childcare costs you need to fill in page 4 of the tax credits claim form.

If you're already receiving tax credits

Your circumstances may change and allow you to claim for help with childcare costs. For example you may:

return to work and start paying for childcare
change your childcare provider to one that's approved or registered

Call us and let us know if this happens.

Contact us

You can contact our Tax Credit Helpline on Tel 0845 300 3900 or textphone 0845 300 3909 (open from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm seven days a week except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day).