🍼 £100k childcare cliff edge
Free Childcare and Tax-Free Childcare both stop when your income passes £100,000, leaving you worse off than if you were earning less. How much would you have to earn before you're better off again?
Your nursery's rates
Most nurseries stretch the free childcare hours over the whole year, leaving you a constant "funded" monthly cost. Enter this below.
Your student loan
Student loan repayments act like an additional tax, so they affect your "breakeven" income.
The income you'd need to break even
£130,134
adjusted net income
roughly your gross pay, less anything you put into a pension
At £100,000 you keep £4,830 a month after tax, National Insurance and nursery fees. Cross that line and both schemes go, so you don't get back to that number until £130,134. Everything between £100,000 and £130,134 leaves you worse off than you were on £100,000. Just above £100,000 you keep only 38p of every extra pound you earn.
What happens to your nursery bill
Over £100k, you pay £1,017 a month more, which is £12,200 a year.
Show the working
Your nursery bill
- Funded rate as quoted
- £1,050.00/mo
- Tax-Free Childcare
- −£166.67/mo Capped — 20% of the bill would be more than the £2,000 yearly limit
- What you actually pay, under £100,000
- £883.33/mo
- What you'd pay, over £100,000
- £1,900.00/mo
On £100,000, with the help
- Personal allowance
- £12,570.00/yr
- Taxable income
- £87,430.00/yr
- Income tax
- −£27,432.00/yr
- National Insurance
- −£4,010.60/yr
- Take-home
- £5,713.12/mo
- Nursery
- −£883.33/mo
- Left over
- £4,829.78/mo
On £130,134, without it
- Personal allowance
- £0.00/yr
- Taxable income
- £130,133.96/yr
- Income tax
- −£44,763.28/yr
- National Insurance
- −£4,613.28/yr
- Take-home
- £6,729.78/mo
- Nursery
- −£1,900.00/mo
- Left over
- £4,829.78/mo
Before you rely on this
- This isn't financial advice. It's a planning tool with illustrative figures.
- Both parents must be under £100,000 to get Free Childcare for Working Parents or Tax-Free Childcare. This only looks at one income.
- England, and the tax bands for England, Wales and Northern Ireland for 2026/27. Scotland's bands differ, and the childcare schemes vary across the UK.
- Tax-Free Childcare is capped at £2,000 a year per child; this assumes one child.
- Nothing you type here leaves your browser.