Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Written Ministerial Statement of 15 January 2018, HCWS401, on Tax-Free Childcare, for what reason the number of users of 30-hours of childcare does not match the number released by the Department for Education in its Management information on the number of 30 hours free childcare codes issued and validated for the spring term 2018.

The Written Ministerial Statement of 15 January 2018 (HCWS401) gave the number of parents who had a live childcare account for 30 hours free childcare. The Department for Education’s Management Information release gives the number of children for whom a 30 hours free childcare code had been validated for the spring term. The full methodology for calculating DfE’s spring codes is set out in their statistical release, which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/673119/30-hours_childcare_management_information_stats-_Jan_2018.pdf

Whilst the majority of parents use the childcare service with no problem, some parents have experienced issues and HMRC have apologised to those parents.

Many of the issues experienced by parents are intermittent and may affect customers in different ways.

Currently, on a typical day, fewer than 2% of parents see an error screen at some point.

Some parents receive a delayed eligibility response. At present this is less than 1% of current applicants.