Childminder Tax Relief for Expenses and Record Keeping

UK HMRC Publications & Guidance

Published March 18th, 2026

Detected March 18th, 2026

Summary

HM Revenue & Customs has updated guidance for childminders on claiming tax relief for expenses, including wear and tear, household costs, food, and drink. The guidance clarifies rules for those using Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, with new requirements starting April 6, 2026, for higher earners.

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What changed

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has updated its guidance on tax relief for childminder expenses, specifically addressing wear and tear, household costs, food, and drink. The update clarifies how childminders can claim these expenses, particularly in light of changes related to Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax. For those using MTD, actual business costs can be claimed, with a pro-rata approach for items used for both business and personal reasons. For those not using MTD, the existing 10% wear and tear allowance and specific percentages for household costs based on hours of care continue to apply.

Childminders who are self-employed and whose qualifying income exceeded £50,000 in the 2024-2025 tax year will be required to use MTD for Income Tax from April 6, 2026. This guidance is crucial for ensuring accurate expense claims and compliance with tax regulations. While no specific compliance deadline is mentioned beyond the MTD implementation date for certain income levels, childminders should review their record-keeping practices and expense claims in light of these updated rules to ensure they are claiming correctly and are prepared for the MTD transition if applicable.

What to do next

Review updated guidance on claiming tax relief for childminder expenses.
Determine eligibility and requirements for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax by April 6, 2026.
Adjust record-keeping and expense claim processes as needed based on MTD requirements or existing allowances.

Source document (simplified)

Guidance

Claiming expenses and keeping records if you’re a childminder

Find out how all childminders can continue to get tax relief for wear and tear, household costs, food and drink, and other business expenses, following changes announced at Budget 2025.

From: HM Revenue & Customs Published 18 March 2026 Get emails about this page Print this page If you’re a self-employed childminder, you can claim tax relief on your business expenses, including:

wear and tear of household items and furniture
household costs
food and drink
keeping records You can still claim tax relief on all your business expenses if you use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. You will need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax from 6 April 2026 if your qualifying income was over £50,000 in the 2024 to 2025 tax year. Find out more about Making Tax Digital for Income Tax and watch HMRC videos or sign up for webinars.

Wear and tear of household items and furniture

If you use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

Self-employed businesses, including childminders, can claim for the business cost of wear and tear of household items and furniture. You can claim for the actual amount you spent on buying, repairing or replacing household items and furniture (such as sofas and carpets).

If you use something for both business and personal reasons, you can only claim for the business proportion of the cost. Find out more about claiming expenses on items used for both business and personal reasons.

Example

You buy a sofa for £400. You work out that 80% of the use of the sofa is from looking after children. You can claim £320 as an expense.

If you do not use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

You can continue to claim 10% of your income from caring for children in your own home for wear and tear of your household items and furniture. You should not include income from caring for children somewhere else (for example, a community centre or village hall).

This includes items not used exclusively for your childminding business (such as sofas and carpets). If you claim for wear and tear, you cannot also claim for the cost of replacing those items.

Household costs

If you use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

Self-employed businesses, including childminders, can claim for a business percentage of household costs. You’ll need to find a reasonable method of working out the percentage, for example the number of rooms you use when caring for children or the amount of time you spend caring for children in your home. Find out more about claiming expenses when you work from your home.

If you do not use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

You can continue to claim a percentage of your household ‘running costs’ and ‘fixed costs’.

Running costs include:

gas and electricity
water, if you have a water meter
Fixed costs include:
Council Tax
water, if you do not have a water meter
rent or interest on your mortgage
The percentage you can claim depends on how many hours a week you normally care for children in your own home. This includes time when you would normally care for children in your own home, but have taken them on trips outside your home (for example, to a park).

If you care for children in your own home for 40 hours or more a week

If you normally care for children for 40 hours or more a week in your own home, you can claim 33% of your running costs and 10% of your fixed costs.

If you care for children in your own home for less than 40 hours a week

If you normally care for children less than 40 hours a week in your own home, you can claim smaller percentages of your costs based on the number of hours you care for children. This could be because you care for children part time, or you also care for children somewhere else (for example, in a community centre or village hall).

You can calculate what percentage of your running costs you can claim by dividing the number of hours by 40 then multiplying by 33. You can calculate what percentage of your fixed costs you can claim by dividing the number of hours by 4. If your answers are decimal numbers, you should round them up to the nearest whole number.

Example

You normally spend 16 hours a week caring for children in your own home.

You can claim 14% of your running costs as 16 hours ÷ 40 × 33 = 13.2%. Rounding up to the nearest whole number makes this 14%.

You can claim 4% of your fixed costs as 16 hours ÷ 4 = 4%.

Food and drink

If you use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

Self-employed childminders can continue to claim for the cost of food and drink provided to children for business purposes. You can claim for the actual amount you spend on food and drink you provide to the children you care for. If the food and drink is shared with your household, you can still claim a reasonable proportion of the overall cost. Find out more about claiming expenses on items used for both business and personal reasons.

If you do not use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

You can continue to claim the estimated cost of food and drink you provide to the children you care for.

Keeping records

If you use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

If you’re a childminder in Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, you should keep digital records of your self-employment income and expenses following Making Tax Digital for Income Tax rules.

If you do not use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

You can continue to use a cashbook and an attendance register to record income and expenses.

You need to keep receipts for:

all business expenses that are £10 or more
small items you bought together totalling £10 or more
You do not need to keep receipts for:
food and drink you provide to the children you care for
individual items that cost less than £10