Are you missing out on help with CHILDCARE COSTS?

Money expert and journalist Kalpana Fitzpatrick shows you how to get support worth up to hundreds of pounds per month

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As the school holidays are nearing an end, you may be feeling a sigh of relief, particularly when it comes to your bank balance.

But the expenses do not stop there. Back-to-school and childcare costs continue to sting family finances, with around one in three working parents with preschool children saying they spend more than a third of their wages on childcare*.

But there is help that can slash the costs by hundreds of pounds.

Get a government top-up

If you’re whipping out your bank card to pay for childcare or school clubs – stop. You could be missing out on free money from the government via the Tax-Free Childcare scheme. HMRC estimates that around 1.3 million families are eligible for up to £2,000 (or £4,000 if you have a disabled child) of help towards childcare costs by using the allowance. Yet in the past year only around 500,000 families signed up.

The scheme is available to work parents with children aged 11 and under (or 17 and under if you have a disabled child) who earn at least £152 a week and less than £100,000 a year. For every £8 you pay in the scheme, you get a £2 boost from the government. To get it, you have to open a Tax-Free Childcare account via the government website, pay into it and when you do, the government will add the top-up. You then use the money to pay an approved childcare provider.