MARTIN Lewis has explained how to get thousands of pounds towards childcare costs – and hundreds of thousands of parents could be missing out.

As millions of families are being clobbered by rising bills due to a cost of living crisis, bringing up the kids is costing even more.

But Martin Lewis' MoneySavingExpert has explained how hard-up families can get extra help to cope with "huge" childcare costs in its cost of living crisis guide.

It said: "100,000s of working parents are missing out on £1,000s of help with this expense."

Applying for child tax credit, tax-free childcare and free holiday activities were some of the ways you can get extra help, MoneySavingExpert said.

Tax-free childcare – £2,000

Tax-free childcare gives families up to £500 per child every three months towards holiday clubs, before and after school clubs, childminders and nurseries.

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That adds up to a maximum of £2,000 a year – but if your child is disabled as you could get up to £4,000 a year in this case.

Your child must be aged under 11, which rises to 17 if they have a disability, to use the scheme – and there is other eligibility criteria you have to hit too, which you can check out here.

If you're not working, you could get the help if you are on one of the following benefits and you partner (if you have one) is still working:

• Incapacity Benefit
• Severe Disablement Allowance
• Carer’s Allowance
• Contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance

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You'll need to apply on the gov.uk website to set up an online account to start claiming the help.

Child tax credit – £2,935

Child tax credits is a form of Government support to help low income parents with the cost of bringing up children.

You don't need to be working to make a claim but you do need to already be claiming working tax credit.

How much child tax credits you're entitled to depends on how many children you have and when they were born.

The new financial year this month meant the rates were hiked.

Child tax credit jumped to £2,935, up from £2,845 – a £90 hike.

Meanwhile, parents with disabled children can get up to £3,545.

FREE childcare

All children at Nursery age in England are entitled to 570 hours per year of free childcare.

Mostly this is taken as 15 hours for 38 weeks.

You can start using your free hours in the term after your child turns three and it ends when your child starts school or becomes compulsory school age.

But some families can get up to 30 hours of free childcare for their kids per week – if they're aged between three and four.

For this you would need to be earning at least the national minimum wage for 16 hours per week as a single parent but less than £100,000 per year – read more about who is eligible here.

While Universal Credit can help with the costs of childcare, no matter how many hours you work.

You may be able to claim up to 85 per cent of your childcare costs if you’re eligible.

How much you can get – and if you're entitled to it at all – depends on your circumstances, but you could get up to £646 a month for one child, and up to £1,108 a month if you've two or more children.

Childcare support is paid in arrears. This means that you will usually pay the costs yourself, and Universal Credit will then pay you up to 85 per cent of the money back. 

How else can I get help if I have kids?

Some children, whose parents claim certain benefits like Universal credit, can get free school meals.

Free school meals will also run throughout the Easter holidays.

You can claim vouchers to spend at the supermarket that are meant to be an equivalent of what your child may have been receiving at school.

Typically parents can claim from £15 to £30 worth of vouchers, but it can vary depending on where you live.

If you're on a low income, you could get as much as £442 to put towards the cost of fresh fruit and veg under the Healthy Start vouchers scheme.

Each healthy start voucher is currently worth £4.25 a week, and over a year that adds up to £221.

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It's worth double that if you have a child under the age of one as you'll be eligible for two vouchers each week, so it's up to £442.

There used to be paper vouchers, but that's just been replaced by a prepaid card, so you'll get the amounts added to that instead automatically every four weeks.

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