HM Revenue & Customs has confirmed the release of its Tax-Free Childcare statistics for June 2026, the regular official data that tracks how many families are using the scheme and how much the government is paying out in top-ups. If you are a working parent trying to cut the cost of childcare, this is the publication that shows how widely the Tax-Free Childcare account is actually being used across the UK.
According to HMRC, the June 2026 Tax-Free Childcare statistics cover the number of families and children with open and used accounts, the value of the government top-up spent, and a breakdown of accounts held for disabled children by age. The figures are also split by region, so you can see how take-up varies across the country.
The data is published on GOV.UK and gives a running picture of a scheme that has been available to eligible working parents for several years.
What do the June 2026 Tax-Free Childcare statistics actually show?
HMRC’s publication brings together several strands of information about the scheme in one place. Based on the department’s own description of the release, it reports on:
Calculate Your 2026 COLA Increase →- Open and used accounts: how many families and children have an active Tax-Free Childcare account, and how many of those accounts were actually used.
- Government top-up spending: the total amount the government paid out in top-ups to parents’ accounts.
- Accounts for disabled children: the number of open and used accounts held for disabled children, broken down by the age of the child.
- Regional breakdown: account use split by region across the UK.
HMRC has not, in this announcement, published the headline totals themselves \u2014 those sit within the full statistical release on GOV.UK rather than in the release notice.
How does Tax-Free Childcare work?
Tax-Free Childcare is the government scheme where parents pay money into an online childcare account and the government adds a top-up. For every £8 a parent pays in, the government adds £2, which is why the statistics track “government top-up” so closely. That top-up is capped, and the scheme is aimed at working families who meet the eligibility rules.
Because the top-up is paid directly into the account, the statistics HMRC publishes are a fairly direct measure of how much financial support is flowing to families through the scheme, not an estimate.
Why does the disabled-children breakdown matter?
The support available through Tax-Free Childcare is more generous for disabled children, so HMRC reports these accounts separately. The June 2026 release counts open and used accounts for disabled children and sorts them by the child’s age. For parents of a disabled child, this section shows how many families in a similar position are using the scheme, and it helps track whether that extra support is reaching the people it is designed for.
Where can I check the figures and my own account?
The full statistical release is published by HMRC on GOV.UK. You can find the June 2026 publication and its supporting tables here:
- Official publication: gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/tax-free-childcare-statistics-june-2026
That page is the place to verify the exact numbers, because it carries the official tables rather than a summary. If you want to manage your own Tax-Free Childcare account \u2014 pay in money, receive the top-up, or check your balance \u2014 you do that through your childcare account on GOV.UK, which is separate from the statistics page.
Who can use Tax-Free Childcare?
Eligibility rules are set by the government and are not restated in the statistics announcement itself. In general terms, the scheme is aimed at working parents whose children are under a set age and who meet income and employment conditions. Because those thresholds can change, HMRC directs parents to the main Tax-Free Childcare guidance on GOV.UK to confirm whether they qualify before opening an account.
The statistics do not decide who is eligible \u2014 they simply record how many eligible families have taken the scheme up. So if you are checking whether you can apply, use the eligibility guidance rather than the statistics report.
How often are these statistics released?
HMRC publishes Tax-Free Childcare statistics on a regular schedule, and the June 2026 edition is one instalment in that ongoing series. Each release updates the picture with the latest counts of accounts, usage and top-up spending. That means the figures move over time as more families open accounts, so a number from an earlier release will not match the latest one.
For anyone tracking the scheme \u2014 whether a parent, a childcare provider, or a researcher \u2014 the regular cadence makes it possible to see trends in take-up and government spending from one publication to the next.
