Tax Free Childcare with HMRC

We are continuing the work we started with HMRC in 2022 on increasing the take-up of Tax-Free Childcare throughout the whole of 2023.

This work will include reconnecting with the 15 local authorities (LAs) we worked with in 2022 to review progress and impact. We will also be working with 22 more LAs across the UK using our review and action planning tool ‘Take Five’, individually and in small groups.

There will be four new national Zoom webinars in 2023 for providers, councils, and family-facing professionals to promote practical strategies to maximise the take-up of Tax-Free Childcare as well as reaching and informing professionals, providers, and families who could benefit.

We are also offering five regional clusters to English LAs in 2023. These meetings will run across spring and summer term and will provide us with an opportunity to bring local authorities together in face-to-face meetings to specifically focus upon Tax-Free Childcare and work together on strategies to increase take-up across entitlements and childcare offers.

In spring 2022, there were two national webinars: one for early years and childcare providers (including Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) providers, and one for local authority staff and family facing professionals in partner organisations. These webinars aimed to:

• raise awareness of TFC and increase understanding of it
• motivate parents and providers to take it up
• equip attendees with the ideas and tools they need to help

We believe all sorts of family facing professionals and indeed other parents, have an important role in sharing information, helping to raise awareness, and supporting the process of taking up Tax-Free Childcare. Family facing roles include, for example, health visitors, social workers, housing officers, children’s centre staff, early help, early years and childcare providers, schoolteachers, job centre staff (or all such equivalents) across the public, private and voluntary sectors.

The webinars and supporting resources were recorded and shared with LAs, partners and hosted online for all to access. You can find the provider webinar recording here: https://youtu.be/3s2NB1DzJ2g

We also ran a feedback loop webinar for LAs to share more widely the learning from the first phase of the programme. We used this to work with five LAs to further explore possible actions in action learning sets, so the impact of the project could be further tested to benefit more areas and the children and families they serve. Look again at Tax-Free Childcare briefing.