Childcare Providers - Have You Activated your Tax-Free Childcare Account ?
If you are a Registered Childcare Provider or Childminder, you can boost your business and help reduce cost for working families by activating your Tax-Free Childcare Account to make sure families can access government support when using your services. The Northern Ireland Childcare Subsidy Scheme (NICSS) also requires providers to be signed up for Tax-Free Childcare.
Why sign up for Tax-Free Childcare ?
You can help working parents with childcare costs.
Tax-Free Childcare allows eligible working families to claim 20% of their childcare costs, up to a maximum of £2,000 per child per year (£4,000 for a child with a disability), from the Government.
Northern Ireland Childcare Subsidy Scheme (NICSS)
The Northern Ireland Childcare Subsidy Scheme (NICSS) provides parents with additional government Financial Assistance for childcare costs but providers and parents must be eligible and signed up for Tax Free childcare to avail of this scheme (see more details below)
How does Tax-Free Childcare work ?
Both parents and Childcare Providers need to sign up for Tax Free Childcare to open an online Tax Free Childcare (TFC) Account.
Parents using the scheme pay the Registered Provider directly for childcare using this TFC account. Payments work just as they do through an online bank account. Each payment is accompanied by a reference number for each child so providers can identify their payments.
If parents have more than one child in childcare they need to open an account for each child, however this can be done as part of a single application.
For every £8 working parents pay into the TFC account, the Government will pay £2, up to a maximum of £2,000 per year per child (i.e. parents would need contribute £8,000 for the Government to top up the TFC account with £2,000).
Providers will only be able to receive Tax-Free Childcare payments from working parents if they have signed up to Tax-Free Childcare.
The amount working parents save with Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) will depend on their childcare costs.
Parents can pay into the TFC account at any time and receive the top up, up to a maximum of £500 top up per quarter (£2,000 top up per annum). These figures increase to £1,000 per quarter (£4,000 per annum) if their child has a disability. Other people, such as family, friends and employers, can also pay into the account. Payments can be made directly to the childcare provider through the online account.
How do I sign up as a provider?
An invitation letter will be sent to you once we receive your details from your regulator. If you’ve recently registered as a childcare provider, this may take a few weeks.
Your invitation letter will contain your unique user ID to sign up online and will also tell you what other details you need to sign up.
See more information here :
Information for Childcare providers (at childcarechoices.gov.uk)
What does Tax-Free Childcare mean for Childcare Providers ? (at childcarechoices.gov.uk)
Sign up to Tax-Free Childcare if you’re a childcare provider (at gov.uk)
If you are already registered and haven’t received (or have lost) your invitation letter, you should contact the Childcare Service Helpline : 0300 123 4097
Guidance and Help if you are Self Employed (at gov.uk)
It is important that you indicate Registered for Tax Free Childcare on your profile on FamilySupportNI .
You can do this via our Self Service Portal
Northern Ireland Childcare Subsidy Scheme (NICSS)
The Northern Ireland Childcare Subsidy Scheme (NICSS) The Northern Ireland Childcare Subsidy Scheme (NICSS) is an intervention designed to reduce the childcare costs of eligible working parents by 15% for all qualifying children.
The overarching aim of this scheme is to help working parents with the affordability of childcare costs.
The Executive has agreed that the subsidy scheme will target working parents who :-
- are eligible for Tax Free Childcare (TFC)
and
have children who have not yet started primary school.
Starting from 1st September 2024, any parent receiving TFC, for a child who has not yet enrolled in primary school will be eligible to participate in the scheme, provided their childcare provider is signed up with HMRC as a TFC provider.
Early Years - the organisation for young children, has been appointed to administer the scheme on behalf of the Department of Education.
Details on the scheme including guidance to support Childcare Providers' registration is available on the Early Years website
Advice for Childcare Providers :-
www.early-years.org/nicss/provider
Advice for Parents and Registering Your Child :-
www.early-years.org/nicss/parents
Advice For Parents From Employers For Childcare :-
Parents must be claiming Tax-Free Childcare to receive the new Northern Ireland Childcare Subsidy, but many parents in Northern Ireland use a form of support other than Tax-Free Childcare (eg Universal Credit, Tax Credits or Childcare Vouchers) to help with their childcare costs.
Employers For Childcare would encourage parents to contact them before they make any decisions about moving from their existing form of support to join Tax-Free Childcare, as this may or may not be the best option for your family.
Telephone 028 9267 8200 or email hello@employersforchildcare.org for a personalised ‘better off’ calculation to find out what is best for your family.