What Universal Credit is …
Universal Credit is a payment to help with your living costs. It’s paid monthly. You may be able to get it if you’re on a low income, out of work or you cannot work.
If you already get other benefits … Universal Credit is replacing the following benefits and tax credits:
- Child Tax Credit
- Housing Benefit
- Income Support
- Income-based Job seeker’s Allowance (JSA)
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- Working Tax Credit
If you’re getting any of these benefits or tax credits, you do not need to do anything unless:
- You have a change of circumstances you need to report.
- You get a letter called a ‘Migration Notice’ telling you that you must start to claim Universal Credit.
You’ll stop getting these benefits and tax credits when you or your partner claims Universal Credit. If you or your partner gets Pension Credit, this will also stop if one of you claims Universal Credit.
This will not affect any other benefits you’re getting, such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP) or Carer’s Allowance.
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Tax-Free Childcare … You can get up to £500 every 3 months (up to £2,000 a year) for each of your children to help with the costs of childcare. This goes up to £1,000 every 3 months if a child is disabled (up to £4,000 a year).
If you get Tax-Free Childcare, you’ll set up an online childcare account for your child. For every £8 you pay into this account, the government will pay in £2 to use to pay your provider.
You can get Tax-Free Childcare at the same time as 30 hours free childcare if you’re eligible for both.
What you can use Tax-Free Childcare for … You can use it to pay for approved childcare, for example:
- childminders, nurseries and nannies
- after school clubs and play schemes
Eligibility … Your eligibility depends on:
- if you are working
- your income (and your partner’s income, if you have one)
- your child’s age and circumstances
- your immigration status
Free education and childcare for 2-year-olds
Your 2-year-old can get free childcare if you live in England and get any of the following benefits:
- Income Support
- income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
- income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- Universal Credit, and your household income is £15,400 a year or less after tax, not including benefit payments
- the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
- Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit (or both), and your household income is £16,190 a year or less before tax
- the Working Tax Credit 4-week run on (the payment you get when you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit)
2-year-olds can also get free childcare if they:
- are looked after by a local authority
- have an education, health and care (EHC) plan
- get Disability Living Allowance
- have left care under an adoption order, special guardianship order or a child arrangements order
You may have to pay for extra costs like meals, nappies or trips.
15 hours free childcare for 3 and 4-year-olds
All 3 to 4-year-olds in England can get 570 free hours per year. It’s usually taken as 15 hours a week for 38 weeks of the year, but you can choose to take fewer hours over more weeks
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30 hours free childcare
You may be able to get free childcare for 52 weeks if you use fewer than 30 hours per week.
How you can use 30 hours free childcare
You can get 30 hours of free childcare per week for 38 weeks of the year (during school term time).
Eligibility … Your eligibility depends on:
- if you are working
- your income (and your partner’s income, if you have one)
- your child’s age and circumstances
- your immigration status
You can apply online for a childcare account to get a code for 30 hours to give to your provider.
You can get 30 hours free childcare at the same time as claiming Universal Credit, tax credits, childcare vouchers or Tax-Free Childcare.
After you’ve applied … Once your application has been approved, you’ll get a code for 30 hours free childcare to give to your childcare provider.
