There are many government-backed schemes parents can use to help pay for their childcare, and tiney are able to support the following payment methods.

The most common method, in which parents pay the full cost of care themselves. We use a payment platform called Stripe to generate invoices and securely process card payments.

The government will cover 70% of the cost of child care (up to a cap) with Child Tax Credits - however this scheme is being phased out and is only accessible to people who have already been claiming this.

It is being replaced by Universal Credit, where the government will cover the cost of up to 85% of care.

Eligibility criteria apply for both schemes, and they cannot be used in conjunction with Tax-Free Childcare - check on www.gov.uk for more information.

In both cases, the cost of care must be paid by the parent upfront (usually by card), and reimbursed upon an approved claim.

For more details, see our article: How to pay with Universal Credit

Working or self-employed parents earning over £139/week and less than £100k/year can pay through Tax-Free Childcare, where the government will top up £2 for every £8 paid by parents, up to £2000 per child per year.

Parents will need to set up a childcare account to pay into, and then this payment will be topped up by the government.

Parents can then pay from this account directly to tiney. You can find tiney in the Tax-Free Childcare portal by searching for tiney, our Ofsted number CA000038, or our postcode E16 2DQ.

For more details, see our article: How to pay with Tax-Free Childcare

Some employers work with childcare voucher schemes, which allow parents to pay for childcare with their pre-tax earnings. Tiney currently accept payments from the following voucher schemes, but we may be able to accommodate other vouchers as needed on request:

From October 2018, Childcare Vouchers are no longer available to new applicants - only parents on existing schemes may pay with this. Tax-Free Childcare is a good alternative for parents who cannot use vouchers.

For more details, see our article: How to pay with Childcare Vouchers

Parents in full-time higher education and receiving a Student Finance loan may be eligible for the Childcare Grant, which covers 85% of the cost of childcare per week up to a cap.

For placements using this scheme, tiney will request the funds from Student Finance, which then needs to be approved by parents each week.

The remainder of the weekly costs will be charged to the parent by credit or debit card.

For more details, see our article: How to pay with Student Finance

As of September 2024, some children of working parents (based on earnings criteria: see here for more details) will be eligible for 15 hours of free childcare per week.

The funding for these placements is provided by Local Authorities - providers must be registered with their Authorities to offer this, however the process of registration varies from one Local Authority to another, so not all providers are able to offer this. For more details, see our article on Funded Hours.

Some children are eligible for 15 hours of free childcare, if their families are receiving some forms of support, or if their parents are working (based on earnings criteria: see here for more details).

These placements are also funded by Local Authorities, with whom providers must be registered in order to offer these placements. For more details, see our article on Funded Hours.

All families are eligible for 15 hours of free childcare per week for 3 & 4 year olds.

Working families (based on earnings criteria: see here for more details) may be eligible for 30 hours free childcare per week for 3 & 4 year olds.

These placements are also funded by Local Authorities, with whom providers must be registered in order to offer these placements. For more details, see our article on Funded Hours.