Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) gives eligible parents a 20% government top-up on childcare payments. Once your nursery has enabled it, you can link your TFC account to Famly and pay your fees directly — no need to log into the government portal each time.
💡 If you're having trouble connecting Famly to your HMRC account on a smartphone or tablet, try using a desktop computer instead
Link Your TFC Account to Famly
Step 1: Start the connection
There are several ways to begin:
From the TFC banner on your Newsfeed - just follow the prompts
From your Balance tab - tap Add payment method and select Set up Tax-Free Childcare
From Automatic payment settings - tap Set up automatic payments, then Set up Tax-Free Childcare
From Account preferences - tap your profile picture, go to Payment Methods, then Set up Tax-Free Childcare
Step 2: Give Famly permission on gov.uk
‼️ Important: You must log in with the HMRC account of the person who owns the TFC account. This is the parent or carer who originally set up the account with HMRC - not a partner or other family member. Logging in with the wrong account will stop the connection from working
You'll be taken to gov.uk to log into your TFC account. You have a separate TFC account for each child - log into each one and give Famly permission to connect.
Once you've given permission, you'll be redirected back to Famly.
Step 3: Link your children
Back in Famly, enter each child's unique TFC reference ID. To find it:
Log into your TFC account on gov.uk
Go to Account → Manage account
Scroll to the bottom — you'll see "the payment reference for your child is..."
The reference ID format is: first letter of first name + three letters of surname + five digits (e.g., JSMI12345).
Step 4: Pay with TFC
The next time you have a balance to pay, choose your child's TFC account as the payment method. Famly shows your Cleared funds - that's what HMRC has already topped up and is ready to use.
💡 You still need to top up your TFC account via bank transfer, but you don't need to log into the government portal to pay your nursery anymore
Paying for Multiple Children with TFC
If you're a bill payer for more than one child, you'll need to split the payment between their TFC accounts. This is because each child has a separate TFC account with HMRC, so you'll need to specify how much of your invoice applies to each child, ensuring the right costs are attributed to the correct child's account.
Go to your Balance tab
You'll see your outstanding balance and a Pay button
Tap Pay
Enter the amount for each child separately
Tap Pay
Important about TFC-eligible items: For pre-primary age children, everything is eligible. For out-of-school clubs, only sessions are eligible - not consumables. It's your responsibility to make sure you only use TFC for eligible charges
Set Up Automatic TFC Payments
Once your TFC account is linked, you can automate payments so you don't need to pay manually each time:
Go to your Balance tab
Tap Set up automatic payments
Select Automate next to Tax-Free Childcare
On your nursery's scheduled payment day, Famly will charge your TFC account automatically. Make sure your TFC account has enough cleared funds to cover the payment beforehand - if the balance is too low, the automatic payment will fail. You can top up via bank transfer on gov.uk, but allow a few days for the funds to clear and receive the government top-up.
‼️ Important: You can only automate TFC payments if one child is linked to your bill payer account. If you have multiple children and want to automate TFC for all of them, ask your nursery to set up separate bill payer accounts - one per child. You can still make manual TFC payments for multiple children without splitting accounts.
Keep in mind that splitting bill payers means each child gets a separate invoice.
Reauthorise Your TFC Connection
At least every 18 months, you'll need to give Famly permission to connect with HMRC again.
If you see "Permission needed" in your automatic payment settings, follow the same steps as the initial setup to refresh the connection.
Unlink Your Child's TFC Account
If you'd like to remove TFC as a payment method:
Tap your profile picture and go to Payment methods
In the Tax-Free Childcare section, tap Unlink next to the child you'd like to remove
You can link their account again from this section at any time.
Troubleshooting
If TFC payments aren't working, here are the most common reasons and what to do:
Issue | What to do |
Your nursery isn't linked to TFC | Ask your nursery to check their TFC setup in Famly — they need to enter their Ofsted or registration number correctly |
You're not listed as a bill payer or invoice recipient | Ask your nursery to add you |
TFC is set up on another login | Only one login can manage TFC per bill payer, even with multiple invoice recipients |
Your TFC account isn't topped up | Top up via bank transfer on gov.uk |
Connection has expired | Reauthorise in your payment settings (needed at least every 18 months) |
"CCP details don't match" error | Ask your nursery to double-check their Ofsted ID or registration number in Famly — even a small typo will block all TFC payments |