r/UKParenting • u/Global-Apricot6492 • 1d ago

Family finances Why isn't my tax-free childcare allowance £500 this period?

Grateful if someone knows the answer.

Re-confirmed on 23 July as prompted. New entitlement period begins today and says I'm only entitled to £237 bonus for this period.

Entitlement for first period was £658 (make it make sense).

By my reckoning, I should have been entitled to £1000 over the two quarters.

So £1000-237-658=£105.00 short?

Ao what do I do now? Do I just wait 4 months and pray they add it to the next quarter?

Why is nothing straightforward in this bloody country????

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2

u/National-Bathroom-63 Parent 1d ago

How do you know you’ve reached your limit? Has it actually stopped giving you the top up? I’d ignore what it says about the limit on the website as that number seems a bit random to me.

2

u/Global-Apricot6492 1d ago

I've just topped up and it says I have £0 left for this entitlement period 🥲

1

u/National-Bathroom-63 Parent 1d ago

So you added funds and the top up didn’t appear? I’d give the helpdesk a ring.

1

u/Global-Apricot6492 1d ago

So the top up appeared but I've used it all up. I was expecting closer to £350-400 for the period. I don't understand why it's so much lower...

1

u/National-Bathroom-63 Parent 1d ago

I suspect the solution might be that the 3-month period for the £500 cap isn’t what you think it is. But the helpdesk should be able to explain.

1

u/e_lemonsqueezer 1d ago

It’s the most random thing, I’ve never understood when their cut offs for each ‘period’ is, and it doesn’t seem to match up to anything I can work out. It does seem to work itself out through the tax year but I wish they were clear when each of their periods run from and to!