Tax free childcare account rollover

Plh28

Hi, 

Apologies if this has been asked before.

For the tax free childcare account I'm aware it's a maximum government contribution of £500 every 3 months but wanted to know if we can use this account like a savings account e.g. opening an account soon after our child is born and not actually using the money we fund it with until over a year or so later? I can't see anything to say this isn't possible but just wanted to check that you don't have to use the money within any kind of set time period!

Thanks in advance!

Cavouranth

I don't know for sure but I use the system regularly and it works very much like a savings account with a pot of money that you build up and can then use that to make and pay the nursery. Would just triple check that the nursery or childcare you use definitely accepts payments from TFC otherwise the whole thing is pointless. Most do accept, but if you're planning on private Nanny etc then sometimes they don't.