Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of people registered for the tax-free childcare scheme are self-employed.
Statistics relating to Tax-Free Childcare account usage are published quarterly in “Tax-Free Childcare Statistics” on the gov.uk website. The latest publication, containing information up to September 2019 is here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tax-free-childcare-quarterly-statistics
Table 5 of the publication shows the number of families, by Government Office Region, that have a Tax-Free Childcare account. The table below shows the number of accounts that are open, regardless of whether or not they have been used.
Region | Year | |
2017-18 | 2018-19 | |
Families with Open Tax-Free Childcare accounts |
|
|
United Kingdom | 272,320 | 449,355 |
England | 263,255 | 426,130 |
North East | 11,355 | 18,200 |
North West | 37,310 | 59,495 |
Yorkshire and Humber | 25,395 | 40,750 |
East Midlands | 23,580 | 38,215 |
West Midlands | 26,615 | 43,220 |
East of England | 30,045 | 50,140 |
London | 33,800 | 54,550 |
South East | 45,535 | 74,660 |
South West | 29,625 | 46,900 |
Wales | 2,285 | 6,745 |
Scotland | 3,400 | 9,700 |
Northern Ireland | 1,340 | 3,240 |
In September 2019 15% of families with an open Tax-Free Childcare account had at least one self-employed parent.