Tax-free childcare can be used to help pay for accredited holiday activities

Working families can use the tax-free childcare scheme to help pay for their summer childcare costs such as accredited holiday clubs childminders or sports activities HMRC has confirmed.

The scheme is available for children aged up to 11 or 17 if the child has a disability. For every £8 deposited into an account families will receive an additional £2 in government top-up capped at £500 every three months or £1 000 if the child is disabled.

According to HMRC more than 282 000 working families used their account in March 2021 the highest take-up since the scheme was launched in April 2017. Not all accounts that are opened are used – for various reasons including the pandemic. Indeed during the latest quarter after the introduction of new Covid-19 restrictions in January 2021 there...