Estimate the Tax-Free Childcare government top-up, parent contribution and net childcare cost after the published per-child caps.
Use this Tax-Free Childcare calculator to estimate the government top-up and parent contribution for monthly childcare costs. It models the top-up only; it is not an eligibility decision and does not model Universal Credit childcare costs or free childcare funded-hours entitlement.
For every GBP 8 paid into a childcare account, the government adds GBP 2, subject to per-child caps.
| Quarterly childcare cost | £2,400 |
|---|---|
| Quarterly government top-up | £480 |
| Quarterly parent contribution | £1,920 |
| Annual childcare cost | £9,600 |
| Annual parent contribution | £7,680 |
| Standard child cap | £500 / quarter |
| Disabled child cap | £1,000 / quarter |
| Cap status | No cap reached in this estimate |
The top-up estimate is below the published per-child cap for this scenario.
Use this Tax-Free Childcare calculator to estimate the government top-up and parent contribution for monthly childcare costs. It models the top-up only; it is not an eligibility decision and does not model Universal Credit childcare costs or free childcare funded-hours entitlement.
| Tax/source year | 2026/27 |
|---|---|
| Region | England/Wales/Northern Ireland |
| Tax code basis | 1257L where the page uses PAYE defaults |
| Pension basis | No pension deduction unless this example says otherwise |
| Student loan basis | No student loan unless selected in this example |
| What is not decided here | PayBreakdown does not decide payroll correctness, lender approval, benefit entitlement or employer compliance, and does not give regulated financial, mortgage, debt, tax, payroll or legal advice. |
|---|
The figures on this page use the values below. Open the calculator if your example salary differs.
The calculator applies the Tax-Free Childcare top-up model to monthly childcare cost, child count and disabled-child count, then shows monthly, quarterly and annual planning figures.
This page estimates the top-up only. It does not decide eligibility, cannot replace GOV.UK services, and does not model funded-hours entitlement, Universal Credit childcare support, provider-specific fees or local authority rules.
Use this Tax-Free Childcare calculator to estimate the government top-up and parent contribution for monthly childcare costs. It models the top-up only; it is not an eligibility decision and does not model Universal Credit childcare costs or free childcare funded-hours entitlement. Salary estimates can change when the tax year, UK region, tax code, pension method, student loan plan, pay frequency, bonus, overtime or salary-sacrifice assumptions change.
The useful figure for budgeting is usually take-home pay after Income Tax, National Insurance, pension deductions and student loan deductions. Gross pay helps compare jobs, while net pay is usually the better starting point for bills, savings and borrowing checks.
Real payslips can differ because payroll works by pay period and can include tax-code changes, pension method differences, student-loan starts or stops, taxable benefits, salary sacrifice, bonuses, overtime, arrears, refunds, or rounding. Match the calculator settings to the payslip before treating a difference as meaningful.
Two jobs with the same headline salary can feel different once pension contribution rate, employer pension method, student-loan plan, bonus pattern, overtime, tax code, region, salary sacrifice and pay frequency are considered. Compare the monthly net figure with commuting costs, bills and savings goals before deciding whether a higher gross salary improves the household plan.
Start by matching the pay basis: annual salary, hourly rate, weekly hours, pay frequency and whether the figure is full-year or part-year. Then match the deductions that usually move the result the most: pension method, pension rate, student-loan plan, postgraduate loan, tax code, Scottish or Welsh tax treatment, bonus, overtime, taxable benefits and salary sacrifice. If the page is a comparison page, keep both sides on the same tax year and pension method before reading the difference. If it is a required-salary or pro-rata page, treat the answer as a target estimate and rerun it with a cautious lower-income or higher-deduction scenario before using it for bills, rent, borrowing or savings.
Use the visible result as a starting point, then change the assumptions that apply to your situation. For salary pages, that usually means tax year, region, tax code, pension method, student loan plan, bonus, overtime and salary-sacrifice settings. For borrowing, debt or budget pages, it means the real payment amount, term, interest rate, balance, bill timing, savings target and any expected income change. Keep the result separate from advice or approval decisions: PayBreakdown helps you model the numbers, while official sources, employer records, provider documents and professional support are still the right place for final checks. If a change is close to a threshold, rerun the calculation with a cautious higher-cost or lower-income scenario before relying on the result.
Use the estimator alongside family-finance and budget planning pages.
Compare Tax-Free Childcare with limited childcare salary-sacrifice wording.
It estimates the possible government top-up, parent contribution and net childcare cost after top-up from the monthly childcare cost, number of children and disabled-child count entered.
No. It is not an eligibility decision. Eligibility can depend on child age and circumstances, working status, income, partner income, immigration status and whether the childcare provider is approved.
No. Universal Credit childcare costs are not modelled here. Tax-Free Childcare also cannot necessarily be used at the same time as Universal Credit or childcare vouchers.
No. Free childcare and funded-hours entitlement are not modelled. Those rules can depend on child age, country, working status, term dates, provider availability and application deadlines.
The calculator flags a cap warning when the estimated top-up reaches the standard or disabled-child cap for the planning period.
No. The childcare-cost page is treated as an alias for this Tax-Free Childcare estimator because the useful public task is the same: estimate the top-up and net childcare cost after the published caps.
Last updated 2026-08-19. Estimates are for planning and should be checked against official records where the decision matters.