Childcare grant

Please be aware: if applying for the childcare grant, if your household income is under the fresh hold but quite close to it you will receive very little money. It’s hardly worth applying for. Anyone under the freehold but close to it would be much better going down the tax free childcare account route.
If would be very helpful if SFI and government website could update their information so that people knew this upfront. Parents need to k ow that it works on a sliding scale and the closer you are to the fresh hold the less money will will get. We have 3 children and the amount we would get would not even cover 2 weeks of childcare

Hi Mitworbla,

Thank you for your query. The Childcare Grant is based on the threshold /household income amount as well as how many child dependents the student has and if they are single/ have a partner, so entitlement can vary for each student dependent on their circumstances.

Thanks, Clare

Yes- that is what should be made clear. All the available info seems to imply that if your household income is below the threshold and you have more than one child then you would get the £320 a week or 85% of the cost. It should clearly state that even if your income is well below the threshold you will not get anywhere near £320 a week. It should give a clear example.