How much do you get?
The scheme's headline is simple: the government adds £2 for every £8 you pay into your childcare account. That is a 20% top-up on what you pay. The limit is what makes the detail matter: in each three-month entitlement period, the government will add at most £500 for each child, or £1,000 if the child is disabled. Over a year, that is £2,000 per child, or £4,000 for a disabled child.
Worked examples
| Situation | Bill in the quarter | You pay in | Government adds | Provider receives |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One child, nursery bill £250 a month | £750 | £600 | £150 | £750 |
| One child, nursery bill £800 a month | £2,400 | £1,920 | £480 | £2,400 |
| One child, nursery bill £1,000 a month | £3,000 | £2,500 | £500 (cap reached) | £3,000 |
| Disabled child, bill £1,200 a month | £3,600 | £2,880 | £720 | £3,600 |
| Two children, £600 a month each | £3,600 total | £2,880 total | £720 total | £3,600 total |
Read the third row carefully, because it is where people get confused. A bill of £1,000 a month is £3,000 in the quarter. Twenty percent of £3,000 would be £600, but the quarterly cap is £500, so the government adds £500 and you must pay the remaining £2,500 yourself. The cap binds once your quarterly bill passes £2,500 for a child, or £5,000 for a disabled child. Below that point, you always get the full 20%. Above it, your effective help falls as a share of the bill, because the top-up cannot grow any further.
Two children, two caps
The cap applies per child, not per family. Two children each with a £600 monthly bill give a £1,200 monthly household bill, or £3,600 in the quarter. You pay £2,880 and the government adds £720, because each child's £360 top-up is well under the £500 quarterly cap. A family with two children in full-time nursery can therefore receive up to £4,000 a year in top-ups, or £8,000 if both children are disabled. Each child has their own account, and you manage the payments separately, even though you apply for all your children in one application.
Quarters, leftovers, and timing
Your entitlement runs in three-month periods, and the cap resets each period. If you pay less than the cap in one period, the unused top-up does not carry forward to the next: a quiet quarter does not bank extra help for a busy one. That is why the timing of large payments matters. If you know a termly bill is coming, it is worth checking which entitlement period it falls in before you pay, so that a single large payment does not waste cap that a later bill in the same period could have used. Money you pay into the account stays there until you pay a provider; you are not forced to spend it in the month you pay it in. And remember the reconfirmation rule: if you do not reconfirm at the end of a period, no top-up is added in the next period until you do.
The quick check
Take your quarterly bill for one child. Divide it by five. If the answer is £500 or less, that is your top-up for the quarter. If it is more than £500, your top-up is £500 (or £1,000 for a disabled child, on the same calculation). Multiply by four for the year, and you have your annual help, assuming your bills and eligibility stay the same.
Sources: GOV.UK, Tax-Free Childcare (how it works and worked example); Best Start in Life, How Tax-Free Childcare works.