Help with Childcare Costs:

Help with childcare costs is available from different sources. This information is for parents who are very young, lone parents, students, parents who are entering training or work and those already in work who want to use childcare.
If you wish to discuss any of these options further, please do not hesitate to contact one of our nurseries managers.

The government funds local authorities to ensure a free part-time early education place is available to every 3 and 4 year old in settings that have been inspected by Ofsted and found satisfactory in terms of quality.

Child tax credit:

Nine out of ten families with children are eligible for child tax credits.
Child tax credit is paid into the bank account of the main carer – the person who is mainly responsible for looking after the children.  Families on income of up to £58,000 a year (or £66,000 a year if there is at least one child who is less than a year old) can benefit from child tax credit whether or not they are working. This money acknowledges and supports the costs of bringing up children.  

Childcare element of working tax credit:

To apply for the childcare element of working tax credit:

• Lone parents must work at least 16 hours a week
• Both members of a couple must work 16 hours a week or more
• Or one member of a couple must work 16 hours a week or more and the other member must be incapacitated

Parents must also use one of the following types of qualifying childcare:

• Care registered by Ofsted (e.g. childminders, nannies, nurseries, activity, clubs, play schemes or out-of-schools)
• Care provided outside of school hours by a school on the school site.
• Carers approved on the Childcare Approval Scheme.*
• An approved foster carer (unless the child is the foster carer’s foster child)
• A domiciliary worker or nurse from a registered agency providing care in the child’s home.

* The childcare approval scheme is a voluntary scheme for approving childminders who meet essential criteria around qualifications, training and criminal record checks.
The childcare element of working tax credit will be paid into the bank account of the main carer alongside the child tax credit. The amount payable will depend upon levels of income.

Help from employers:

Large local employers, like the NHS and local authority, can often help towards childcare costs through schemes like childcare vouchers, childcare subsidies and workplace provision.
From April 2005 the government reformed national insurance exemptions to support the national childcare strategy with the focus on employer-supported childcare.

Childcare vouchers, which are usually administrated by a voucher provider, are a way of paying for childcare through sacrificing a proportion of salary for vouchers. Savings in tax and national insurance payments can amount to approximately £920 a year for the average tax payer and the employer will make voucher payments direct to the childcare provider.

This is an amount paid to a childcare provider to subsidise the cost of care for staff. An example would be a £5 a day subsidy for a holiday play scheme.

Workplace or in-house is where the employer is wholly or partly responsible for financing and managing the provision or the care is provided on premises, which are made available solely by the employer.

Care to learn:

Support for young parents in further education can be obtained through care to learn, which pays for registered childcare for parents aged under 20 who attend training or a course at a school or college.
Childcare costs of up to £155 per week, which includes travel expenses to and from a registered childcare provider, can be claimed. The childcare provider will receive payment direct from care to learn. Any funding to help with travel costs will be paid directly to the learning or training provider regularly and they will reimburse you.

Childcare grant:

Full-time students with dependent children up to age of 14 (or 16 if they have special needs) can apply for help with their childcare costs, as long as they are using registered or approved provision.
Students with dependent children may also receive an income-assessed parents’ learning allowance of up to £1,400 per year regardless of the type of childcare used.
The childcare grant and the parents’ learning allowance do not affect entitlement to benefits. However the parent cannot apply for the childcare element of working tax credit if they are receiving this grant.

NHS childcare allowance:

Trainee health care professionals can apply for help towards their childcare costs through the NHS childcare allowance. The allowance is means-tested and offers up to 85% of the registered or approval childcare costs. Parents cannot apply for the childcare element of working tax credit if they are receiving this allowance.

Career development loans (CDL):

Anyone aged 18 or over can apply for a Career Development Loan for vocational courses that last no longer than two years. You can apply for a CDL if you are employed, self-employed or unemployed. CDL’s are available through an arrangement between the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and three high street banks.
Your CDL can be used to pay for more than just course fees. Before you apply, think carefully about what you need your loan to cover. This will help you decide how much you need to borrow. There are three areas that a CDL can cover.

• Course fees – 80 percent of your course fees, or 100 percent if you have been out of work for 3 months or more at the time of application.
• Other course costs – including, books, equipment, tools, childcare, travel expenses and some costs associated with disability.
• Living expenses – for food, ordinary clothing or footwear, household fuel, rent, housing costs and council tax; these costs must not be covered by any other grant or state benefit, and you must not undertake work involving more than 30 hours per week.

Your loan can cover one or more of these elements, but cannot exceed £8,000 in total.

Help for parents with disabled children:

Following an assessment, if you have parental responsibility for a disabled child, direct payments can be used for a variety of services which offer your child stimulation, new experiences and independence.
These include:

• Short Breaks
• Nursery placement providing specialist support for your child
• Assistance  to attend and activity, for example a youth club
• Personal care

South Tyneside Council also has the Aiming High Programme, which aims to improve the provision of short breaks for disabled children.