Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the cost of administering the tax-free childcare scheme.

HMRC administer Tax-Free Childcare and 30 hours free childcare through the childcare service. The average annual operating cost for the childcare service over the five years to 2021/22 is estimated as £34.1m.

Details on Tax-Free Childcare usage up to December 2018 can be found in the official statistics publication (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tax-free-childcare-statistics-december-2018).

Details on 30 hours free childcare usage is published by the Department for Education (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/30-hours-free-childcare-eligibility-codes-issued-and-validated)