All the way back in 2014, the new Tax-Free Childcare Accounts were announced. As we reported in our September 2015 newsletter the roll out was subsequently delayed due to court cases and disputes with the providers of the current childcare voucher schemes.

However, with all of this settled, the new accounts are set to be introduced on a trial basis from April. Tax-Free Childcare will be available to around 2 million households to help with the cost of childcare, enabling more parents to go out to work, if they want to, to provide greater security for their families.

There are a number of rules which can be found here, but qualifying parents will be able to put up to £8,000 a year into a special account which the Government will top up with 20p for every 80p contributed by the parents/contributer. This account can only be used to pay for childcare for children up to the age of 12.