Supporting Families using Tax Free Childcare for Children not yet in Primary School
Important Update: Extension of the Northern Ireland Childcare Subsidy Scheme (NICSS) for School Aged Childcare
Early Years welcomes the Minister's announcement on May 15th in relation to extending the NICSS to include school aged childcare provision for families who are registered with Tax Free Childcare. This means that from 1st September 2025 working parents of school age children can now receive the 15% subsidy, up to the capped amount, on their childcare bills.
There is no immediate action required.
Over the next two months, Early Years will be building out the required infrastructure to allow new school aged childcare claims on the NICSS portal. The core principle of this work will be ensuring that the process remains as simple and straightforward as possible, allowing parents to register children and providers to submit claims.
We will ensure that claims can be made for all eligible registered children for provision offered from September 1st.
Early Years will provide further updates in due course. In the meantime, if you have any queries please contact:
T: +44 (0)28 9066 2825 (Option 3)
E: nicssprovider@early-years.org for providers
E: nicssparent@early-years.org for parents
The Northern Ireland Childcare Subsidy Scheme (NICSS) is a Department of Education initiative designed to reduce the childcare costs of eligible working parents by 15% for all qualifying children. The overarching aim of this scheme is to help working parents with the affordability of childcare costs.
The Northern Ireland Executive has agreed that the subsidy scheme will target working parents who are eligible for Tax Free Childcare (TFC) and have children who have not yet started primary school. The Minister for Education has announced that the scheme will continue from 1st April 2025 to 31st March 2026, meaning that any parent receiving TFC, for a child who has not yet enrolled in primary school will be eligible to participate in the scheme, provided their childcare provider is signed up with HMRC as a TFC provider.
From 1st September 2025, working parents of school age children (4+ to 11) can now receive the 15% subsidy, up to the capped amount (£184), on their childcare bills.
Early Years - the organisation for young children, has been appointed to administer the scheme on behalf of the Department of Education.
To find out more about the scheme, please select the relevant image below;
Advice for Providers
Advice for parents
