Tax credits have closed
Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit closed on 5 April 2025 and everyone moved to Universal Credit. If you're looking for “child tax credits”, you want either Tax-Free Childcare or the Universal Credit childcare element, both below.
Tax-Free Childcare
You open a childcare account on GOV.UK. For every £8 you pay in, the government adds £2, and you pay your provider from that account.
On a £96 term, you'd pay £76.80 and the government would cover £19.20. The provider receives the full amount either way.
- Capped at £500 of top-up per quarter per child, or double that for a disabled child.
- For children up to 11 (up to 16 if your child is disabled).
- Both parents need to be working and earning at least the equivalent of 16 hours a week at minimum wage, and neither can earn over £100,000.
- You can't use it at the same time as Universal Credit or childcare vouchers.
Employer childcare vouchers
Salary sacrifice through your employer, via schemes such as Edenred, Computershare, Care-4 and Sodexo. They closed to new joiners on 4 October 2018, so this only applies if you were already in a scheme and have stayed with the same employer.
If you are, it's often still the better option. If you're not, Tax-Free Childcare is the one open to you.
Universal Credit childcare element
Covers up to 85% of childcare costs, capped each month, and is normally paid back to you after you've paid. So you need a record of what you paid and to whom.
That's what your Tumble payment history is for: one statement covering every provider you book through us, rather than chasing each one separately.
The monthly caps are uprated every April, so check the current figure on GOV.UK rather than trusting a number you read somewhere.
Why some providers can take it and others can't
All three schemes can only pay a provider who's registered with Ofsted. The catch is that many activity providers are exempt from registering: for example, coaching in one activity for children over 5, or any session under two hours. Being exempt isn't a black mark; it just means the money can't reach them.
So it's worth asking. An exempt provider can join the voluntary part of the Childcare Register, and plenty don't know they can. A polite “could you take Tax-Free Childcare?” is sometimes all it takes.
How paying works
This money doesn't go through Tumble's checkout, and it can't. It moves as a bank transfer from your scheme account into the provider's own.
- Book or arrange the place with the provider.
- Pay them from your scheme account.
- Quote whatever reference they ask for. A transfer with nothing on it is one they can't match to your child, so always include it.
On a listing, a green badge means the provider says they take it. A ✓ means Tumble has checked their Ofsted registration against the public register.
Tumble can't tell you what you're entitled to
Which scheme suits your family depends on your earnings, your hours and what else you're claiming, and choosing wrong can genuinely cost you: moving to Tax-Free Childcare ends a Universal Credit childcare claim. Use the government's own tool.