Can freelancers get funding for childcare?
Do you know how much a part-time (25 hours per week) nursery place costs for a child aged under two? A whopping £7,210 per year or £138.70 a week, according to the annual Coram Family and Childcare Survey. That feels a ginormous sum for new freelancers with little or no guaranteed income.
I can’t magic you up a magic money tree or even your own personal Mary Poppins (sorry!) but I do have some good news: there is childcare funding out there for freelancers. Even better, it’s not just for those with pre-school children. If you’ve got school age kids using after school clubs and holiday activities, there’s support available for those costs too. It won’t cover everything but it can make all the difference between uninterrupted time to build your freelance business or trying to sound professional on a client call while feeding your toddler.
Check out the childcare support you’re entitled to. It might feel that parent / work juggle feel a little bit more doable.
Free Childcare for 3 & 4 year olds
Let’s start with the simple part. If you’ve got a child aged three or four years old in Scotland, England or Wales you can get free childcare (or, technically, early education) – and it comes with very few strings attached. In fact, pretty much the only requirements are that you have a child of the right age and you use a registered childcare provider that has a place for your child. It doesn’t matter how much you’re earning or whether you’re claiming any other forms of government support. This scheme is open to all children from the term after they turn three.
Exactly what you’re entitled to varies across the UK. Right now, it’s 10 hours per week in Wales, 570 hours a year in England and a pretty hefty 1,140 hours a year in Scotland. In England, it’s up to you and your childcare provider how you take those hours. The default tends to be 15 hours per week during term times but if you’d prefer to spread the hours across a full calendar year, you can as long as that works for your childcare provider. If you want to go down this route, it’s worth looking at private nurseries and childminders which are often more flexible than maintained nurseries.
One thing to watch out for is that the funding is only for the childcare itself. This means that childcare providers can charge for extras such as meals, nappies and trips. However, that’s still a whole heap better than paying for the cost of the childcare too!
How to get the support
Contact your local council or Family Information Service for details of how to apply or head to the government website pages for Scotland, England or Wales for an overview of what’s available where you live.
Funded Childcare for 3 & 4 year olds with working parents
If you live in England or Wales, have got a child aged three or four years old and both you are your partner (if relevant) are working for more than 16 hours per week, you could get an additional tranche of funded childcare on top of the universal offer covered in the section above. This one is not available in Scotland as it already provides the higher level of free childcare for all three and four year olds.
In Wales, your core childcare allocation of 10 hours per week is topped up to 30 hours. In England, you get the equivalent of an extra 15 hours per week for 38 weeks, to again bring the total up to 30 hours (although you can split this into a lower weekly number of hours across the whole year, if your childcare provider agrees).
This funding is open to self-employed freelancers as well as those in full-time employment and you can get it when you’re on maternity / paternity leave. As a freelancer, you normally need to show that you earn the equivalent of the minimum wage for an average of 16 hours per week. This is based on an average of your annual earnings – you’re not expected to keep super-detailed weekly timesheets! If you’ve only registered as self-employed in the last 12 months you may still qualify, even if you don’t yet earn this amount, so it’s definitely worth checking out.
As with the universal three and four year old funding, this funding only covers the childcare itself, so be ready to pay for extras, such as meals, trips and nappies.
How to get the support
In England, you can apply online. Make sure you have your National Insurance Number and Unique Tax Reference (UTR) to hand. It takes around 20 minutes to apply and you should find out if you’re eligible within seven days or less. In Wales, contact your local Family Information Service for details.
Tax-Free Childcare
Tax-free childcare is another source of top up funding for working parents, including self-employed freelancers. This is the big one if you’ve got primary school age kids or children under the age of three, as you can use this funding to help pay for all types of registered provision for children aged 0-11, including out-of-school and holiday clubs as well as nurseries and childminders.
Tax-free funding doesn’t cover all your childcare costs but, if you pay basic rate tax, it effectively gives you a 20 percent discount on what you need to pay. To access the funding, you have to set up an online childcare account for your child, which you then use to pay for your childcare. The good bit is that the government contributes £2 for every £8 you put into this account, up to a maximum of £2,000 per child per year. In practice, this means that, if your childcare costs £100 per week, for example, you only have to pay £80 of that cost, with the government contributing the rest. Which definitely helps!
To be eligible, you must have a child aged 11 or under who usually lives with you plus both you and your partner (if relevant) need to be earning the equivalent of the national living / minimum wage for 16 hours per week. When you’re self-employed, you’re allowed to use an average of your earnings over the year so don’t panic if your income drops for a month or two. As long as you earn enough in total over the year, you should be fine.
You can claim for tax-free childcare at the same time as receiving either the 15 or 30 hour funding for three and four year olds. However, you can’t get tax-free childcare at the same time as claiming working tax credit, child tax credit, universal credit or childcare vouchers. If you’re claiming for one of these benefits or if your partner currently gets childcare vouchers via their employer, it’s worth using the government’s online calculator to check which option is better for you.
How to get the support
To access the tax-free childcare, you need to open an online account which you use to pay your childcare provider.
Universal Credit for Childcare
If you both you and your partner (if relevant) work and you’re claiming universal credit, you may be able to get up to 85% of your childcare costs for any of your children who are aged 17 or under.
Universal credit is open to self-employed freelancers and can be used for registered or approved out-of-school and holiday clubs as well as childminders and nurseries. You also can continue to claim for childcare support if you’re on maternity leave and receiving maternity allowance.
One big point to note is that you can’t get universal credit for childcare at the same time as either tax credits or tax-free childcare. If you’re currently getting support via one of these schemes, check which is the best option for your circumstances via the government’s online benefits calculator before you switch. It’s also really important to be aware that you will normally need to pay for the childcare yourself and then claim back for childcare costs.
How to get the support
You can apply online for the childcare support element of Universal Credit
Other Childcare Support
There’s a smattering of other childcare support out there, from free activities in school holidays to financial assistance if you’re studying to funded childcare for two year olds. These vary across the country and depend a lot on your personal circumstances.
Contact your local Family Information Service to find out details of specific support and activities running in your local area or check out Childcare Choices for a useful summary of the main government programmes.
Finally, remember that choosing childcare is a very personal decision. What suits your best friend’s daughter or your next door neighbour’s nephew may not be right for you or your child. But whichever route you choose, it’s great to know that there’s funding out there for childcare – meaning more time for you to focus on building your freelance business.
Disclaimer: I confirmed all details in this article against government information at the time of writing. However, government priorities can change at short notice and what you’re entitled to will depend on your specific circumstances. Please do check the government’s latest information on paying for childcare before making any big decisions!
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