Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much the Government has spent on promoting the tax-free childcare scheme in each of the last four financial years.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The government is committed to supporting families with their childcare costs. 316,000 families used Tax-Free Childcare for 371,000 children and spent £35.0 million on top-up for families in September 2021; compared to 227,000 families who used Tax-Free Childcare for 263,000 children and spent £26.5m in September 2020.
The government has spent the following on marketing and research in the current and three previous financial years.
2018/19 – £1,113,270
2019/20 – £241,580
2020/21 – £197,338
2021/22 – £151,205 (full year forecast and not all costs are committed)
In 2018/19 marketing spend involved a national campaign as part of the phased rollout of the scheme.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of eligible families with children under five (a) have an open Tax Free Childcare account and (b) used their Tax Free Childcare account in 2020-21.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The total eligible population is 1.3m families. This estimate is not broken down by family characteristics. The total number of eligible children in those families is 1.7m for 2020-21.The table below shows the total number of children with open and used Tax-Free Childcare accounts for 0-4 year olds in 2020-21:
Month/Year | Total Open Accounts (0-4 year olds) | Total Used Accounts (0-4 year olds) |
Apr-20 | 447,725 | 87,055 |
May-20 | 442,905 | 62,575 |
Jun-20 | 446,180 | 117,490 |
Jul-20 | 460,955 | 157,200 |
Aug-20 | 470,145 | 159,840 |
Sep-20 | 465,120 | 225,020 |
Oct-20 | 464,860 | 232,435 |
Nov-20 | 474,150 | 240,935 |
Dec-20 | 477,185 | 245,065 |
Jan-21 | 490,315 | 230,370 |
Feb-21 | 503,135 | 230,450 |
Mar-21 | 525,770 | 283,095 |
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the tax-free childcare scheme, how many (a) active accounts and (b) children eligible there were for that scheme on 31 March in each of the last 5 years.
Answered by Simon Clarke
Tax-Free Childcare began to be rolled out from April 2017.
The figures for Open and Used accounts for Tax-Free Childcare are published in Official Statistics (latest release November 2021 for figures up to September 2021).
The estimated figures for eligible children from 2017-18 onwards, as well as the annual Open and Used account figures can be found in the table below.
Number of (000s) | Financial Year | |||
2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | |
Children with Open Accounts | 314 | 537 | 768 | 901 |
Children with Used Accounts | 72 | 203 | 396 | 462 |
Eligible Children | 1,800 | 1,900 | 1,900 | 1,700 |
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 16 November 2021 to Question 72406, how many and what proportion of user accounts for the tax-free childcare scheme that have not had their details reconfirmed in the last three months relate to children under the age of 12.
Answered by Simon Clarke
There were 125,800 accounts that had reached the end of an eligibility period but had not reconfirmed details between 1st August and 31st October 2021. Of these, 125,300 or over 99% relate to children aged under 12 on 31st October.
There can be many reasons why a family might not reconfirm their account in a 3-month period. For example, there may have been changes to their childcare arrangements or their working arrangements which mean they are no longer eligible for TFC or don’t need it. They may still reactivate and use their TFC account in a future period.