Tax Free Childcare Eligibility Calculator

Use this Tax-Free Childcare eligibility calculator to check whether you qualify for the UK's TFC scheme based on your income, employment status and family circumstances. If you do, you almost certainly also qualify for 30 funded hours depending on your child's age and used together, the two schemes can save families thousands of pounds a year.

Tax-Free Childcare is available for children up to age 11 (or 16 for disabled children) and can be used for nurseries, childminders, after-school clubs, holiday clubs and even registered nannies, making it one of the most flexible childcare support schemes available. It can't be combined with Universal Credit childcare support or Tax Credits, so if you're claiming either of those it's worth checking which works out better for your family. If you're self-employed, the eligibility rules are more flexible than many parents realise; our self-employed childcare guide explains how the minimum income threshold works for variable incomes.

If either parent's income is close to £100,000, eligibility depends on your adjusted net income rather than your gross salary and it's important to know that pension contributions can make a significant difference to where yours ends up. Once you've confirmed eligibility and set up your account, use our Tax-Free Childcare top-up calculator to work out exactly how much to pay in each quarter.

Written and designed by Catherine, founder of Milk & Money, who swapped PhD research for childcare analytics.