If you pay for registered childcare during your studies, you may be able to get help towards the cost through Childcare Allowance (CCA).
You can only get CCA if you receive the NHS Bursary, and we’ll pay it in 3 termly instalments with your other payments.
Your eligibility
You’re eligible for CCA if:
- you’re a medical or dental student
- you receive the NHS Bursary
- you have dependent children under 15, or under 17 if they have special educational needs, on the first day of the academic year
You’re not eligible if:
- you only get the non means tested part of the NHS Bursary, or tuition fee support only
- you get childcare support through Working Tax Credits, Universal Credit or another funding body
- your childcare is fully covered through the government’s free education and childcare
- you're on maternity leave
Free early education and childcare
All 3 and 4 year olds in England are entitled to a maximum of 570 hours of free early education or childcare a year. You can find more information about this on gov.uk’s 15 hours free childcare for 3 and 4 year olds page.
Some 2 year olds are also eligible. You can find more information about this on gov.uk’s Free education and childcare for 2 year olds if you claim certain benefits page.
If you’re using these free hours for childcare, you cannot claim CCA for those hours too. You can still claim for any hours not covered by the government.
For example, your childcare costs are £100 per week. £30 worth [KL1] [KL2] of these costs are saved using the free childcare hours from the government. You should then declare your weekly childcare costs are £70 per week when you apply for CCA.
Childcare provider eligibility
To be eligible for CCA, you need to use a childcare provider who is approved or registered through:
- Ofsted or the list of childminder agencies if it’s in England
- the Scottish Care Inspectorate if it’s in Scotland
- Care Inspectorate Wales if it’s in Wales
- the local Early Years Teams if it’s in Northern Ireland
Your provider needs to give you their registration details when you apply for CCA.
What you could get
We can contribute a maximum of 85% of your childcare costs per week up to:
- £188.90 per week for one child
- £323.85 per week for two or more children
CCA is means tested, so we’ll use your household income to calculate your entitlement.
We may ask for receipts to make sure we’re paying you the correct amount, so you need to keep receipts for all childcare costs you pay.
An example of what you could get
You have one child in registered childcare and pay £250 per week for 40 weeks. 85% of £250 is £212.50 per week.
This is over our maximum weekly contribution, so we’d pay you the full £188.90 per week.
£188.90 multiplied by 40 weeks is £7,556. This would be your maximum entitlement for the academic year.
This calculation is based on having no income to affect your entitlement.
How and when to apply
You can apply for CCA after you’ve applied for the means tested bursary element of the NHS Bursary and Dependants’ Allowance. When you apply for Dependants’ Allowance, we’ll ask if you want to apply for CCA.
You’ll then need to complete a Childcare Allowance application form (PDF: 279KB) and upload it to your NHS Bursary account.
Telling us about changes
Childcare changes could affect your entitlement, so you need to tell us as soon as possible if you:
- change or stop using your childcare provider
- want to add another childcare provider
- want to add another child to your CCA claim
This is to make sure we pay you the correct amount of CCA.
You can tell us by applying for a Change of Circumstances through your NHS Bursary account. You may need to complete a new CCA application form.
Guidance
You can find out more about the Childcare Allowance in our guidance booklet
Help with Childcare costs for NHS Bursary Students (PDF: 1.24MB)
You can also watch a short YouTube video with information about CCA.