Childcare help for parents

Working parents in West Lothian are being reminded they could save up to £2000 per child per year to pay towards after-school clubs and other childcare services.

Around 110,000 families in Scotland are eligible for Tax- Free Childcare, which can cut thousands of pounds off childcare bills.

All families have to do is pay into their Tax-Free Childcare account and for every £ 8 that they deposit, the UK Government immediately makes a top-up payment of an additional £2. The scheme is open to working parents, including the self-employed, who earn between the minimum wage and £100,000 per year and have children aged 0-11 years old. Families with a disabled child, aged 0-17 years old, can receive up to £4000 in government support each year.

Families in Scotland can choose from childcare providers that have signed up to Tax-Free Childcare, including nannies, nurseries, childminders or after-school clubs.

HMRC’s deputy chief executive and second permanent secretary, Angela MacDonald, said: “As more parents across the country return to work and kids head back to school following the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, there has never been a better time to sign up to Tax-Free Childcare. It takes just minutes to set up an account on our Childcare Choices website and soon you could be receiving up to £2000 per child towards the cost of childcare each year.”

To find out more, or to apply, visit www. childcarechoices.gov.uk. It includes a Childcare Calculator (www.gov.uk/ childcare-calculator) that compares all the government’s childcare offers to check what works best for individual families.

More information on other schemes such as Help To Save and Marriage Allowance can be found here: https:// www.deliveringforscotland.gov.uk