Parents are being encouraged to take advantage of the government’s tax-free childcare scheme to help manage childcare costs over the school holidays.
YouGov polled 334 parents of children aged 16 and under on behalf of HMRC, and found that 31% felt stressed trying to arrange childcare for the school holidays.
Around the same figure (30%) also found it difficult to balance their job and school holiday childcare, and 54% said they look forward to their children returning to school at the end of the holidays.
To help manage this stress, HMRC is urging parents to apply for tax-free childcare, which provides a government contribution on savings used to cover childcare costs.
For every £8 paid in, the government adds an extra £2 up to a limit of £2,000 a year, or £4,000 for parents of disabled children.
This can be put towards the costs of registered childcare providers, including nurseries, childminders, after-school clubs and holiday clubs.
Quote from Nigel Holland:
“Having childcare available for working parents during the school holidays is important, however paying for childcare providers can be quite costly. With the government having this offer available where parents can ultimately save money on childcare, I recommend parents take full advantage of it as in the long run it will cut their childcare bills dramatically. Claimants must be in paid work in order to qualify.”