What Would You Do With A Bit Of Extra Money Every Month
Whether it helps towards paying for the essentials, or gives you the chance to go on family day out, we want to help working parents to have a bit of extra money to pay for the things that are important to their family.
But for fun, we wanted to see what Welsh toddlers would do with a bit of extra money and there were some surprising answers
If You Live In England Or Scotland
You can only get Tax-Free Childcare to help pay for childcare provided by a relative if theyre a registered childminder and care for your child outside your home.
You cannot claim for 30 hours free childcare for childcare provided by a relative .
You cannot get help for childcare provided by your partner. This is not accepted as approved childcare.
If you live in England and get 30 hours free childcare, you can pay the childcare provider using Universal Credit, tax credits, childcare vouchers or Tax-Free Childcare.
Resources For Child Care Programs
Business Coaching, Funding, and other Business Resources
The Texas Workforce Commission is providing FREE business coaching and other resources to help your child care business. Learn more at www.childcare.texas.gov.
Minimum Standards for Child Care
If you are regularly caring for children other than your own, you most likely need to be regulated with the State of Texas. Read the benefits of regulation, your different options for regulation, and what requirements are needed at the Child Care Regulation website, available in English or Spanish.
Participate in the State’s Child Care Services Program
Whether you are a child care center, child care home, or if you are caring for a family members child, you can contact us to find out how to accept children who are in the Child Care Services program. You would be reimbursed by Workforce Solutions for caring for these children. Learn more about reimbursement rates available to child care programs, at Child Care Rates.
T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Texas Scholarship Program
T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Texas Scholarship Program is a research based comprehensive strategy to educate and retain early childhood practitioners, positively impacting outcomes for the children in their care. To learn more and see if you are eligible, visit TXAEYC.
Texas Child Care Availability Portal
Texas Child Care Quarterly
Texas Early Learning Guidelines
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State Child Care Assistance Programs
Parents struggle with the costs and choices with child care. Here is a list of child care assistance programs that are available in your state each with its own eligibility guidelines.
Child care can be expensive. The average fee for full-time care ranges from approximately $2,400 to $20,800 a year, depending on where the family lives, the type of care, and the age of the child.
The average cost of full-time infant care is most expensive in Massachusetts and least expensive in Mississippi. These costs far exceed what a mother working full-time at the minimum wage typically can afford on her own.
Child Care Assistance Programs also known as Child Care Subsidies, help eligible families with children younger than 13 pay for child care. In cases in which health or other disabilities exist, older children may also be eligible for the program.
The program pays for part of the daycare costs, while parents co-pay for a portion based on the size of the family and the amount of their income.
The list below highlights Child Care Subsidy Program offered in each of the 50 states, from Alabama to Wyoming each with its own eligibility guidelines and application process.
Child Care Payment Assistance
Who is eligible?
- Parents applying for the Smart Steps program whose income is below the 85th percentile of State Median Income who have children six weeks to five years old and who work or go to school, or both, for 30 hours or more a week.
- High school or middle school mothers who stay in school who participate in the Teen Parent program.
- Parents in the Families First program who need child care to complete the work activities in their personal responsibility plan.
- Parents whose Families First case has closed can receive transitional child care assistance for 18 months after their Families First case closes IF each parent works 30 hours or more a week.
- Non-parental guardians in the Families First program who need child care for a related child IF the guardian does 30 or more hours of work, training, or education a week.
How do I apply?
Or complete the application below and then fax it, mail it, or bring it to your local TDHS office.
If you have questions about child care payment assistance, child care staff are located at these TDHS offices to help you.
Application for Child Care Payment Assistance/Smart Steps – Instructions
**Make sure you submit all required verification documents with your application. The required documents are listed on the first page of the application above**
How do I find a child care provider?
. The providers that accept child care payment assistance are listed as Yes under the Child Care Assistance column.
Customer Survey
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Other Help With Childcare Costs
- When funded early learning and childcare can start
- Other help with childcare costs
You may also be able to get help with childcare costs from other schemes. There are childcare parts of Tax Credits and Universal Credit. Tax-Free Childcare is a scheme for working parents.
If you work, you can also check if your employer offers childcare vouchers.
If you are a student, you may be able to get help through your college or university. Or, if you are a lone parent, through the Students Awards Agency for Scotland . There is information on the Lone Parents Grant at the bottom of the page.
Child Growth And Development
From birth to age 5 is an incredibly exciting time of growth and development. It is during these early years when children develop the foundations for social, emotional, physical, language and cognitive growth. During these years, you may also have many questions about your childs development.
How do I know if my child is developing typically?
Children develop in similar patterns at similar times, and typically go through a sequence of accomplishments However, each child is unique and will therefore learn, grow and reach milestones according to their own timeline. Knowing when to be concerned and when not to be is important for parents and family members. Your childs pediatrician is your partner in determining whether or not your child is developing typically. The Center for Disease Control has a wealth of information about child development and developmental milestones. To learn more, or to see how your child is progressing, .
Kid Tours 2 – Growth and Development
Virginias Early Learning and Development Standards
The ELDS are a reference to help caregivers and educators understand what most children are able to know and to do, across different areas of development, by a given age.The document describes development across five overlapping age bands.
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Approaches to Play and Learning
- Social Emotional Learning
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Communication, Language, and Literacy Development
- Health and Physical Development
- Cognitive Development
Learn the Signs. Act Early.
Early Intervention in Virginia
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Child Care And Early Learning Options
High quality early childhood care and education can have the greatest effect on the lives of children and their families. Brain research has shown the importance of cognitive and social development in the early years of life as well as how it connects to future academic success. Did you know that kids in quality early childhood care and education programs have a higher high school completion rate? High quality experiences for children from birth to five should include enriching activities in developmentally appropriate environments, while also providing families with necessary resources and support. Some early care and education program options include Early Head Start, Head Start, Virginia Preschool Initiative, child day centers, and family day homes.
A child day care program in Virginia refers to a regularly operating service arrangement for children where, during the absence of a parent or guardian, a person or organization has agreed to assume responsibility for the supervision, protection and well-being of a child under the age of 13 for less than a 24-hour period.
There are two types of child day programs in Virginia: child day centers and family day homes .
Categories of care include:
- Approved
- Unlicensed and Unregistered
Educating yourself on available care options, and knowing what to look for when selecting a program, are essential to your childs well-being. Search for child day care.
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Licensed |
Our Plan: Childcare Bc
B.C. is taking important steps to deliver quality and affordable child care to more families. Learn more about what we’re doing to reduce child care fees for parents, build more licensed spaces, and increase supports for those working in the sector.
Economic recovery funding to support child care providers.
COVID-19popular topicsDon’t include personal details
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Good Childcare Is Unaffordable
Center-based childcare is very expensive, both in absolute terms and relative to family income. One estimate pegs the average weekly cost of full-time daycare at $196 per child, or about $10,000 per year.2 Other estimates are higher.3 Costs vary substantially by geographical locale, age of the child, and form of childcare. For example, full-time center-based care for one infant or toddler ranges from about $5,000 a year in Mississippi to over $22,000 a year in Washington, D.C.4 Costs for infants and toddlers are thousands of dollars higher per year than costs for preschoolers.
These costs are very high relative to family income.5 Accredited, center-based childcare for a dual-earner family with two young children and with earnings at 150 percent of the average full-time workers wage would cost that family, on average, 29 percent of their take-home pay. A poor single parent earning 50 percent of the national average wage would have to spend 52 percent of her income for the same services. The U.S. ranks dead last among developed nations on this measure of affordability, as illustrated in the subsequent figure for a single parent earning half the average wage.6
Child Care And Public Prekindergarten Partnerships
A child care/pre-K partnership is a collaboration between a public-school pre-K program and one or more quality-rated child care programs to provide high-quality care and education to three- and four-year-old children. This is also called an early learning partnership. Texas Rising Star Three- and Four-Star certified programs are eligible for pre-K partnerships. Learn more at Public Prekindergarten Partnerships.
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The Program: Childcare And Education Savings Accounts
The politics of increased federal funding for childcare depend not only on data Ive presented above on need and the availability of budget offsets from the charitable deduction, but also on how an increased subsidy would be delivered to families. Further, the outlines of a delivery vehicle are required in order to estimate costs. There are several ways that a federal subsidy for childcare might be accomplished. Three broad categories are: tax credits, grants to states, and savings accounts.
The tax vehicle would provide for increased deductibility or credits for childcare expenses, including perhaps refundable tax credits such that a family that has accrued childcare expenses but whose taxes would be reduced below zero with a childcare credit would receive a refund for the difference. There are several problems with a tax credit vehicle, as I describe subsequently. A critical one is that it delivers benefits to parents once a year in connection with a tax return whereas the costs for childcare are due and payable when they are being received. The childcare provider needs to be paid at the end of the week or beginning of the month. A tax credit the parent receives in April is mistimed for families that live from paycheck to paycheck.
More Federal Spending On Childcare Will Require A Budget Offset
In that context, the task for those who want to identify a politically plausible way forward for increased childcare subsidies is to find an offset. In other words, what might the Congress be willing to spend less on in order to spend more on childcare?
Finding a place to cut federal spending in order to free up funds for childcare is, of course, not an easy task. Every federal expenditure of substance has beneficiaries that can be expected to oppose efforts to roll back the funding from which they reap an advantage. And the oxen to be gored are likely to be roused to greater levels of advocacy than those who would benefit from the redirected funds, who in this case are lower income families. Further, there are few federal funding programs for which a plausible argument of beneficence to the general public good cannot be made. The challenge, then, is to identify a present program of federal spending that can be restructured so as to free up funds for childcare that has vulnerabilities, political and functional.
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Who Can Get It
To qualify, a parent or parents normally need to:
- Be working and have children under 12 or under 17 if your child has a disability. They stop being eligible on 1 September after the childs 11th birthday. Adopted children qualify, but foster children dont
- Earn at least £152 a week on average each. This is equivalent to 16 hours at the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage.
- Have no more than £100,000 adjusted net income per year, per parent. Find out more about adjusted net income on the GOV.UK website
- Be employed or self-employed. If you or your partner are on maternity, paternity or adoption leave you might still qualify. You can apply if youre starting or re-starting work within the next 31 days.
Do you have caring responsibilities, or are ill or disabled and so not able to work? Then youll still qualify for a childcare account if one parent is in work and the other isnt able to work and receives any of the following benefits:
- Carers Allowance
- Contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance
- National insurance credits because of incapacity or limited capability for work.
Choosing Quality Child Care
is one of the most important decisions youll ever make as a parent. Licensing is the first step in quality care. Quality child care impacts how children learn, think, develop and behave promotes social and emotional skills promotes self-esteem and confidence encourages curiosity and love of learning prepares children for school strengthens math and reading skills and increases probability of attending college.
When you select a licensed care provider in Virginia, you are selecting a qualified professional in the field of early education with a commitment to providing a safe and healthy environment for children by demonstrating compliance with regulations.
What is the difference between licensed versus unlicensed and unregistered care?
Licensed child day care programs can be offered in a child day center or in a family day home. They have an initial inspection and two unannounced inspections per year. Additional inspections are conducted as a result of violations and/or complaints. They have requirements for background checks, education, training/orientation, and health and safety standards.
Unlicensed and unregistered child day care programs do not have any of the following requirements or safeguards to protect vulnerable children: background checks, training/orientation, or health and safety requirements and only minimal Code of Virginia requirements apply.
Who inspects early care and education programs?
How do I find out about inspection reports or violations?
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Unaffordable Childcare Has Negative Consequences
There are a range of consequences of the high costs and low affordability of childcare. Among them are deleterious effects on children of unregulated and often substandard childcare 9 lost productivity for employers due to parents missing work to handle gaps in childcare or to care for a sick child 10 lost wages and reduced retirement benefits for parents who have to drop out of the labor market to provide at-home care for their young children 11 a substantial downward pressure on the wages of childcare workers with effects on the quality and stability of the childcare workforce 12 and lost opportunities for further education,13 college savings, and other investments that working parents could make in themselves and their children but cannot afford because they are spending most or all of their disposable income on childcare.
Subsidy Programs For Students
7. School-sponsored subsidies
If you or your spouse is a student, your school may offer financial assistance for paying for child care. For instance, Oregon State University offers a plan that helps pay for various types of care. Some universities also offer low-cost, on-campus child care for eligible students.
Some states have grants for degree-seeking students to help pay for child care, but theyre often distributed through offices of varying names. In Massachusetts, the funds are issued through the Executive Office of Education in Oregon, its through the Office of Student Access and Completion and in Utah, its through the Office of Child Care.
How to get it: Because these programs are specific to each school, your best bet is to check with the individual college or university.
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Hmrc Can Help With Childcare Costs As Children Head Back To School
HMRC is reminding families eligible for Tax-Free Childcare that they can use the scheme to help with their childcare costs.
- From:
- 1 September 2021
Families may be eligible for Tax-Free Childcare to help pay for breakfast and after school clubs as children go back to school.
Eligible families can save money on their childcare and benefit from a government top-up worth up to £2,000 every year, or up to £4,000 a year if a child is disabled. In June 2021, about 308,000 families across the UK benefited from using Tax-Free Childcare, but thousands are missing out on this opportunity.
Tax-Free Childcare is available to parents or carers who have children aged up to 11, or 17 if their child is disabled. For every £8 a parent or carer deposits into their account, they will receive a £2 top-up, up to the value of £500 every three months, or £1,000 if their child is disabled.
Parents and carers can check their eligibility and register for Tax-Free Childcare via GOV.UK.
HMRC recognises that families personal circumstances have changed since March 2020 as more parents and carers are preparing to return to their workplaces. The 20% top-up is paid into the Tax-Free Childcare account and is ready to use almost instantly, meaning parents and carers can use the money towards the cost of childminders, breakfast and after school clubs, and approved play schemes.
Myrtle Lloyd, HMRCs Director General for Customer Services, said:
