The weather lately has been positively Mediterranean making the age old dilemma of keeping the kid’s amused whilst their parents work harder than ever. So how can tax help? HMRC have issued a press release highlighting to stressed parents that they can get help with childcare costs for the summer holidays from the government via Tax-Free childcare (“TFC”).

Working parents can use TFC, which is worth up to £2,000 per child per year, to pay for regulated holiday clubs during the school holidays. More than 58,000 registered childcare providers including school, football, art and tennis clubs have signed up across the UK.

Parents that pay into their account regularly can ‘save up’ their TFC allowance and use it for childcare during school holidays. The money can go towards a whole range of regulated childcare including nurseries, childminders, before and after school clubs, or holiday clubs.

Parents can find out what government help is available and apply online by visiting the Childcare Choices website. It includes a Childcare Calculator that compares all the government’s childcare offers to check what works best for individual families.