| If your child is about to be entitled to 30 free hours, we hope to make parents aware that they need to apply as soon as possible for their 30 hours eligibility codes. We strongly advise you to apply in good time to ensure your code arrives in time for the term you need it. Not all parents can get a code straight away – HMRC sometimes needs more information to check whether a parent is eligible.
We also want to remind parents who already have an eligibility code to reconfirm their eligibility for 30 hours every 3 months, so please do keep us posted on that.
Tax-free childcareMany of our parents currently use Childcare Vouchers to help pay for their nursery fees. We wanted to bring to your attention that this scheme is now phased out, with Tax-Free Childcare taking its place. We would advise all parents to consider the benefits of this scheme. Here is a little more information. What is Tax-Free Childcare? If you’re a working parent with children under 12 (or under 17 for disabled children), you can open an online account to pay for registered childcare. The government will top-up the money you pay into the account. For every £8 you pay in, the government will add an extra £2. You can receive up to £2,000 per child – that’s up to £500 every three months. If you have a disabled child, you can receive up to £4,000 per child – that’s up to £1,000 every three months. Parents of children born on or after 1st April 2013, and parents of disabled children, can apply now. How do I know if I am entitled to Tax-Free Childcare? You and any partner must each expect to earn (on average) at least £120 per week (equal to 16 hours at the National Minimum or Living Wage). If you, or your partner, are on maternity, paternity or adoption leave, or you’re unable to work because you are disabled or have caring responsibilities, you could still be eligible. If either you or your partner, expect to earn £100,000 or more, you can’t get Tax-Free Childcare. You can’t use Tax-Free Childcare at the same time as childcare vouchers, Universal Credit or tax credits. You can use it with the 15 hours and 30 hours schemes. For further information please visit: https://www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/tax-free-childcare Or ask Ian at First Steps. Before and After School Club for Primary School Starters We can’t quite believe it either, but we will be waving goodbye to another year of leavers come the start of September. With this in mind, we do want to make parents aware that places for First Steps very own Before and After School Club do get booked up and fast. If you are wanting to carry on using our services even though your child has moved onto primary school, please do think about days now, as we would love to give places to our incumbent families before new one’s ring and book their spaces. All the details of our wrap-around care can be found here, including prices and times, remember we drop off and pick up from all Poynton primary schools. |
30 Free Hours and Tax Free Childcare
