Tax-free childcare
How to apply
You can apply for Tax-Free Childcare online:
To apply, you will need your details (and your partners if you have one) including your:
- National Insurance Number
- Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) if you are self-employed.
How long it takes to make a payment
Most payments will now take 24 hours.
If you make your initial desposit by bank transfer:
- it will normally take 2 hours for the payment to reach your childcare account
- HMRC will add any Government top up automatically
- you can use the money to pay your provider as soon as it shows available funds
If you make a payment to your provider:
- before 2.30pm it will reach the provider's account the same day
- after 2.30pm, weekends or bank holidays, it will reach the provider's account the next working day.
Payments over £2,000 will take up to 3 working days to reach the provider's account.