People on Universal Credit can get up to £1,739 per month from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), even during the summer months.
Universal Credit Childcare Support Benefits for Working Parents
The government offers a variety of benefits, tax breaks and schemes for parents of young children. Many of these benefits are not widely known, as a result many parents tend to miss out on them.
If you're employed and have a hard time paying for childcare costs and your child is aged between nine months and five years, you may be able to claim back some of these costs through Universal Credit.
Childcare isn’t limited to nurseries as it can also include other options such as preschool, after-school programs, babysitters, school leisure programs. These services are available not only during the school term, but also throughout the summer holidays.
This enables you to claim a great portion (85%) of your childcare expenses, regardless of the number of hours you work, this can amount to £1,014 for one child, or to a maximum of £1,739 for two children.
How to Claim Universal Credit Benefits?
Claims can be submitted three months in advance, and the payment will be provided subsequently.
If you are a Universal Credit claimant, you can get an additional benefit known as the ‘child element’, which equates around £288 per child monthly, in addition to your basic Universal Credit payment.
In order to qualify, your household income needs to be under £40,000, or £50,000 for larger families.
It's worth noting that even if you are not currently receiving Universal Credit, you can still get help.
This program is referred to as tax-free childcare, and it generally provides a 20% reduction in childcare expenses. You can rely on the scheme to cover up to £10,000 of childcare costs annually.
If you pay £8,000 into the scheme, the government will provide you an additional £2,000, effectively granting you a 20% bonus which can help you to pay for childcare costs. To be eligible for this, you must be employed and earn under £100,000 per year.