Tax-Free Childcare
Abercorn School is committed to broadening access to the School.
What is tax-free childcare?
Tax-Free Childcare is a UK wide offer. Eligible parents with children under 12 can get up to £2,000 per child, per year, towards their childcare costs.
Who is eligible?
A parent, and their partner, will need to expect to earn (on average) the equivalent of working 16 hours a week at their National Minimum wage (£120 at the National Living Wage in 2017-18, less for people on the National Minimum Wage). And earn less than £100,000 a year each.
If they are on maternity, paternity or adoption leave for another child, or unable to work because they are disabled or have caring responsibilities, they could still be eligible.
Abercorn School is pleased to accept childcare vouchers, alongside payment from online Tax-Free Childcare accounts, in full or partial settlement of the following charges, all of which we believe, fall within the HMRC definition of ‘qualifying childcare’:
Find out more about tax-free childcare by visiting:
Early Years Age Range Only
School fees for Nursery and/or Reception for children aged under 5 at the start of any term (at 31 March; 31 August or 31 December in any year), as this is deemed as “non-compulsory” education.
Whole School
Year 1-11: Clubs & any chargeable after –school activities for the whole School held between 4pm and 6pm on Monday to Friday or those held at weekends.
Payments and/or vouchers may only be used by parents or those with “parental responsibility” for the child concerned.
Our acceptance of payments and/or vouchers is strictly on the condition that, should HMRC dispute any element of our acceptance, any liability for a reclaim of tax or national insurance contributions remains solely with the parent and/or their employer; the School cannot accept any liability in this respect.
In addition, we also require that arrangements for accepting childcare payments and/vouchers fulfil the following conditions:
Fees must be settled within our normal terms and conditions which require payment in advance. In practice this requires parents to either save up vouchers and then to make payment in a lump sum at the start of a term or to make monthly advance payments during the term when the fees have already been settled in full.
All payments from voucher providers must be made via bank transfer; we cannot accept cheques under this process.
At the time of writing, the School is an approved provider under the UK government’s Tax Free Childcare Scheme. We are currently not registered with any other voucher providers, but in principle we are happy to register with providers as may be required by parents whose employers utilise these schemes, provided as always that any provider must be able to adopt electronic registration and payment.
Tax-free childcare can’t be used at the same time as childcare vouchers, Universal Credit or tax credits. The Childcare Calculator is a great tool to help families make an informed decision on which offer to use.
Please contact the School Bursar on bursar@abercornschool.com if you have any questions.
