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Wednesday, 3 October 2023

Money, tax and benefits

You work 16 hours or more and pay childcare: entitlement tables

These tables give you an idea of the tax credits you could get if you work and pay for registered or approved childcare. They show roughly what you could get in total for the current tax year. You need to be working at least 16 hours a week to use these tables.

You have one child

The amounts shown are the total amount of tax credits you could get for the whole of the current tax year. This started on 6 April 2023 and will end on 5 April 2013. The annual income is your joint income if you're in a couple.

Annual income £	£90 a week child care costs	Maximum child care £175
0	10,385	13,480
5,100	10,385	13,480
9,500	9,915	13,010
10,000	9,710	12,805
15,000	7,660	10,755
20,000	5,610	8,705
25,000	3,560	6,655
30,000	1,510	4,605
35,000	0	2,555
40,000	0	505
45,000	0	0

You have two children

Annual income £	£150 a week child care costs	Maximum child care £300
0	15,260	20,720
5,100	15,260	20,720
9,500	14,790	20,250
10,000	14,585	20,045
15,000	12,535	17,995
20,000	10,485	15,945
25,000	8,435	13,895
30,000	6,385	11,845
35,000	4,335	9,795
40,000	2,285	7,745
45,000	235	5,695
50,000	0	3,645
55,000	0	1,595
60,000	0	0

You have three children

Annual income £	£150 a week child care costs	Maximum child care £300
0	17,950	23,410
5,100	17,950	23,410
9,500	17,480	22,940
10,000	17,275	22,735
15,000	15,225	20,685
20,000	13,175	18,635
25,000	11,125	16,585
30,000	9,075	14,535
35,000	7,025	12,485
40,000	4,975	10,435
45,000	2,925	8,385
50,000	875	6,335
55,000	0	4,285
60,000	0	2,235
65,000	0	185

Who should use these tables?

You can use these tables if you're:

single and working at least 16 hours a week
a couple with both of you working at least 16 hours a week

You can also use these tables if you're a couple, only one of you works at least 16 hours a week, and the other is:

'incapacitated' - this means they're ill or disabled and getting certain benefits, or in certain circumstances National Insurance credits
in hospital or in prison
entitled to Carer's Allowance - even if they don’t get any payments because they receive other benefits instead

Find out more about what 'incapacitated' means for tax credits

Don’t use these tables if you're a lone parent working between 16 and 29 hours a week and your total income is more than £5,100.

You can check how much you might get by filling in an online calculator instead - it takes about 10-15 minutes to complete.

Tax credits calculator - find out how much you can get

If you're not sure whether you're using the right tables you can check by following the link below.

Entitlement tables for tax credits - getting started

How to use these tables

Find the table that applies to you - the headings will help you choose.

Find the annual income level in the first column that's nearest to your own total income for the last tax year (joint income for couples). This includes income from work, some state benefits (such as contributions-based Jobseeker's Allowance), and other income (such as interest on savings) over £300.

A tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April. If your income this tax year is likely to be more than £2,500 lower, you might need to look at a different annual income level. See the next section for how to work out which figure to use.

Find the heading in the other columns that apply to you. The childcare costs provided are examples so use the costs that are nearest to your average weekly costs.

Where the row and column meet that is the typical amount of tax credits award for those circumstances.

You should use the information in the tables as a guide only. For a better idea of how much you might be entitled to you can use a more detailed online tax credits calculator. It should take about 10-15 minutes to fill in.

How to work out your income for tax credits

Tax credits calculator - find out how much you can get

If your income will drop in this tax year by more than £2,500

If your income is likely to drop this tax year by more than £2,500, you might need to look at a different annual income level. Follow the steps below.

Step one

Take your lower income.

Step two

Add £2,500 to it. This is because the Tax Credit Office ignores the first £2,500 of the income drop when working out your payments.

Step three

Find the annual income level in the table that's nearest to your answer.

For example, your income for the last tax year was £30,000. But you estimate that your income will drop to £18,000 for this tax year (6 April 2023 to 5 April 2023). You need to look at the annual income of £20,000 in the table.

This is worked out like this:

£18,000 + £2,500 = £20,500. So the nearest income in the table is £20,000.

What you need to know about the income figures

It's worth knowing about some things that apply to the income figures in the tables.

For the annual income figures of £0 and £5,100, the amount of tax credits shown only applies if either of the following apply:

you're single and work at least 16 (but less than 30) hours a week
you're a couple, one of you works at least 16 hours and - between you - you work under 30 hours a week

For the annual income figures of £9,500 and above, the amounts of tax credits shown only apply if you’re: