Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) forecast and (b) actual expenditure was for the tax-free childcare scheme in the last three financial years.

Tax-Free Childcare began to be rolled out from April 2017.

Forecasted expenditure for financial years 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 was published in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook for Spring Statement 2019 and can be found on page 105: https://obr.uk/docs/dlm_uploads/March-2019_EFO_Web-Accessible.pdf

Actual expenditure for financial years 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 was published in the Tax-Free Childcare Official Statistics, March 2022. The Tables and Statistics are available to download from: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tax-free-childcare-statistics-march-2022

Actual expenditure in 2020-21 was significantly lower than forecast. This is driven by the impact of COVID 19 lockdowns.