30 hours childcare - website driving me mad!

Legacy_user · 15 March 2018 at 10:12PM

I'm trying to apply for the 30 hours free childcare on the HMRC website. I get all the way through to the 'what you're applying for' screen, which says this:

You're about to submit an application for Tax-Free Childcare. If your application is successful and you're getting Working Tax Credit or Child Tax Credit, these will be stopped automatically. You'll have a break in benefits and may not be able to restart your tax credits.

If you live in England and have a 3 or 4 year old, you can change your application to apply for only 30 hours free childcare.

Are you sure you want to continue with your application?

- Yes, continue with my application
- Change my application to 30 hours free childcare only
- No, stop my application

I don't want the tax-free childcare; I want the 30 free hours. So I select the second option, and I just get taken back to the first page of questions. I'm on an endless loop! Does anyone know of a solution to this? I'll call the helpline tomorrow if I need to, but I'm at work all day so I'd much rather get it sorted online this evening if I can.

Paparika · 15 March 2018 at 11:07PM

They have a sneaky way of signing you up to TFC when you only want 30 hours free.

One thing tho, are you using and ipad or iphone or tablet, as these may not show all the buttons.
There might be a tick here for 30 hours only box?

System · 19 March 2018 at 4:59PM

I called the helpline in the end, and completely forgot to come back here. In case anyone else has the same problem, it turns out that the website is poorly worded. By ticking 'continue with my application' you apply for TFC and 30 hours, but have the option (so they told me) of not using the TFC unless you choose to later. If you select 'change my application' but have no benefits that will be put at risk by applying for both, it takes you into the loop I ended up in.

aniluk · 27 March 2018 at 12:31AM

Thanks for raising. I was almost going mad in infinite loop. Someone in HMRC needs to be fired right now for setting up this indefinate loop. How can they even allow such thing to go live which is used by millions of people. And don't even bother fixing it. Heights of inefficency.

Back to the question. So how did you exactly resolve this? Did you press option 1 "Yes, continue with my application" and somewhere later said I do not want TFC?

Are you sure you want to continue with your application? Yes, continue with my application
Change my application to 30 hours free childcare only
No, stop my application

Menemnem · 10 April 2019 at 8:30PM

Hey, just wanted to say that the website frustrated me beyond belief. I finally solved it:

Just click continue with application regardless of what you want. It sets up with both tax free and 30 hours if you’re eligible. You can then select if you want to use tax free or not and you will be given the code upon log in for the 30 hours.

Hope that helps

30 hours childcare - website driving me mad!

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