Paying for childcare

Childcare costs can be expensive but there is financial help available to many parents and carers – if you know what’s out there and how to access it. Here’s a quick guide of what help you can get.

Help for all parents

Free nursery places for three and four year olds
Almost all day nurseries, pre-school playgroups and independent schools in Shropshire are able to provide five free sessions (a session is classified as 2 ½ hours) per week for three and four year olds. Select link for Early Years Education or contact the Children’s Information Service for more information on 01743 254400.

Child Tax Credit
The Child Tax Credit is extra money for all families with children. You don’t have to be working to claim the Child Tax Credit but you do have to be responsible for at least one dependant child or young person. Contact the Inland Revenue for further information.

Extra help for working parents

Working Tax Credit
You could be eligible to claim extra cash through the Working Tax Credit if you or your partner work for 16 hours a week or more. If you are paying for childcare you could also be eligible to claim up to 70% of those childcare costs back. For further information contact the Inland Revenue.

Help from employers
About one in ten employers provide some kind of childcare help to employees - such as childcare allowances, vouchers, or subsidised childcare services. It is always worth asking to find out if your employer has plans to help with childcare.

Extra help for lone parents
Lone parents who join New Deal for Lone Parents (NDLP) at their local Jobcentre Plus can get some help with childcare costs while they train for work or search for work.

Extra help for parents in education
Care To Learn is a package for teenage parents under the age of 19. It gives support to help parents continue with their education or training by providing information, advice and funding for the costs of their childcare.

Learner Support Fund is designed to help further education students aged 16 to 18, in colleges or sixth form colleges with a variety of costs including childcare.

Parents studying an NHS funded professional training course will be able to claim the NHS Childcare Allowance, which depending on circumstances, enables parents to claim up to 85% of their childcare costs.