From Monday April 8, parents claiming Universal Credit could claim up to £1,739 to help with childcare costs as benefit rates rose by 6.7% – this gives them an extra £1,300 a year for childcare
Households claiming Universal Credit can get an extra £1,300 to help with childcare costs from this month.
The extra support is part of the Government’s expansion of free childcare for working parents. From Monday April 8, parents claiming Universal Credit could claim £1,015 a month for childcare for a person under the age of 17 years. This is an increase of £65 from the £950 you could claim before. Parents with two children or more could claim up to £1,739 to cover childcare costs – up from the £1,630 before.
This is an extra £109 a month and over the course of the year this equates to an extra £1,300. With Universal Credit childcare, the DWP says parents can receive up to 85% of their childcare costs back before their next month’s bills are due – meaning they should have money to pay one month in advance.
The increases come as the Government rolls out its expansion for free childcare. From April, the Government made 15 hours of free childcare a week available for eligible working parents of two year olds. The applications for this scheme opened in January this year and more than 150,000 two year olds were confirmed to have childcare places when the scheme launched.
Thousands more places are expected to be secured over the coming weeks with applications for 15 hours a week of free childcare for nine month olds opening on May 12. The round of the scheme wil be rolled out from September.
When it is fully rolled out in September 2025, eligible working parents, including those on Universal Credit, will receive 30 hours of free childcare from the end of maternity leave to when their child starts school. This means that parents who take up the full 30 hours will save an average of £6,900 per year on childcare costs.
To be eligible, parents of these younger children must work and earn a minimum of the equivalent of 16 hours a week at minimum wage, and less than £100,000 a year. This applies to both parents in a couple and single parents.
Free childcare hours are usually taken over 38 weeks (to cover term time) but you can normally spread it out to cover more weeks by using fewer hours a week. The free hours must be used with a registered childcare minder, such as some private nurseries or state-run pre-schools.
Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said: “This big boost to childcare support will help even more parents step into the world of work and secure long-term financial security. We are delivering on our plan to get people into jobs, as we cut taxes, drive down inflation, and put money back into the pockets of hardworking families.”
