Updated on 26 June 2026

Childminders

This page explains some special tax rules which self-employed childminders can use if they do not need to report their tax information under the Making Tax Digital for income tax rules.

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Overview

If you are a childminder who must use Making Tax Digital then you can’t use the rules explained below. We explain more about the tax rules that apply to you on our page Making Tax Digital for the self-employed. (This will be a change in the way many childminders have previously prepared their accounts for their tax return.)

If you are a childminder who isn’t using Making Tax Digital then there are four main areas that have different tax rules you can choose to use. These are:

Wear and tear of household items
Household costs
Food and drink
Keeping records

We cover each of these in more detail below. For other expenses, you should follow the ‘usual rules‘ for business expenses for the self-employed which we cover on our page, Business expenses: allowable for tax.

It is important to remember that you do not have to use these special rules as in some cases it may be more beneficial to use the ‘usual’ self-employment tax rules for claiming business expenses. However, in many cases these special rules will be easier to use and for some they will also be beneficial to use.

Wear and tear of household items

If you predominately do your childminder duties within your own home (rather than say hiring a hall to use) then instead of claiming tax relief for the actual cost of buying, replacing or repairing household items which you use in your own home, you can claim a round sum allowance of 10% of the sales (gross income) from your childminding business each year. Household items include furniture and carpets.

Example – wear and tear of household items if not using Making Tax Digital

Shelia is a childminder who also sells home-baked goods. For the 2026/27 tax year, her gross income (turnover/sales) from her childminding services is £19,000 and her gross sales from her baking is £2,500. Shelia is not required to use Making Tax Digital for income tax in 2026/27.

Instead of working out any repair and replacement costs for household items for the 2026/27 tax year, Shelia can instead deduct £1,900 as a business expense (10% of £19,000). Sheila does not include the sales amount from her home-baking business when calculating the wear and tear allowance.

Cleaning costs can be claimed separately to the wear and tear allowance, if applicable. Any costs must be proportionate to the childminding business. So, if you hire a cleaner to clean your house for £60 per week, but you only use a third of your house for childminding duties then you should only include £20 cleaning costs per week as a business expense.

Remember you do not have to use the round-sum 10% wear and tear allowance if you think it would be more beneficial to claim your actual business expenses. This may be the case if you have especially high costs for repairs or replacements and so the amount you could claim would be more than the wear and tear allowance – but you will only be able to claim the business proportion of the expense (where it is used for both the business and for personal use). You may find it easier and more appropriate to claim the 10% allowance each year as you will not have to work out the business proportion of household items used in your home.

Household costs

If you are a childminder who is not required to use Making Tax Digital for income tax, you can claim a percentage of your household costs based on the number of hours you work per week to take account of the fact you essentially run your childminding business from home. This is different to the working from home simplified expense allowance that self-employed individuals can claim – please note you can’t claim both allowances.

The table below shows the percentage of household costs childminders can claim:

Number of hours worked*	Council Tax (domestic rates in Northern Ireland)	Gas and electricity	Water rates (if not on a meter)	Water rates (if have a meter)	Rent or mortgage interest
10 hours	3%	9%	3%	9%	3%
15 hours	4%	13%	4%	13%	4%
20 hours	5%	17%	5%	17%	5%
25 hours	7%	21%	7%	21%	7%
30 hours	8%	25%	8%	25%	8%
35 hours	9%	29%	9%	29%	9%
40 hours	10%	33%	10%	33%	10%

*usually at your own home but can include occasional trips out.

If you work a different number of hours to those listed in the table above, then guidance on GOV.UK explains how you can calculate your fixed costs and running costs.

The table above shows different percentages, depending on whether the household cost is a fixed cost or a running cost.

A fixed cost will not vary depending on actual usage, so it includes costs like council tax, water rates if you do not have a water meter and rent or mortgage interest – the capital element of the mortgage payment should never be included. Other fixed costs could include house insurance (depending on if there is a separate business premises policy).

Running costs will vary depending on the amount of usage, such as gas and electricity costs and water rates if on a water meter.

Example – household costs if not using Making Tax Digital

Gemma is a childminder who works part-time doing 30 hours a week. Her annual household costs are as follows:

Council tax £2,000
Water rates (non-meter) £500
Gas and electricity £1,800
Mortgage costs £12,000 comprising of £3,000 interest, £9,000 capital

Gemma does not have to use Making Tax Digital so she decides to use the percentages listed above to work out her business costs as follows:

Council tax £2,000 at 8% = £160
Water rates (non-meter) £500 at 8% = £40
Gas and electricity £1,800 at 25% = £450
Mortgage interest (only) £3,000 at 8% = £240

Gemma claims business expenses of £890 (£160 + £40 + £450 + £240) for her household costs.

You can use an alternative method of proportioning your costs if you think that is more representative of the actual business element of the household costs, for example you work more than 40 hours per week. Alternative methods include considering the number of rooms in your house you use for your business as a proportion of the total number of rooms in your property. Another method would be to consider the number of hours you use your home for your business compared to non-business activities. See our guidance under the heading Rent, rates, power and insurance costs on our webpage, Business expenses: allowable for tax for more information.

If you work term-time only rather than all year with the ‘usual time off’ for holidays then we understand you may consider it more appropriate to pro-rate the business element of the household costs further by the number of working weeks.

Food and drink

As a childminder, you will most likely provide food and drink for the children you look after. Unless you shop separately for this, it can be very difficult to calculate the exact cost of this business expense because usually the food and drink will be part of a higher cost such as a weekly supermarket shop which is also for personal use.

If you are a childminder who is not required to use Making Tax Digital for income tax it is acceptable to use a reasonable estimate for the cost of food and drink as a business expense. You do not need to keep receipts as business records for food and drink (see the Keeping records heading below).

Example – food and drink if not using Making Tax Digital

Beth looks at her food bills over a couple of weeks so she can estimate how much of her total food bill relates to her childminding business only. She then uses the estimate over the complete tax year to work out the food and drink costs to include on her accounts and tax return. It would be helpful for her own records if Beth makes a note about how she has produced her estimate for food and drink expenses.

With the rising cost of food and drink, Beth may decide to revisit her estimation periodically.

Keeping records

If you are not using Making Tax Digital for income tax, you still have to keep business records in order to prepare an accurate tax return. Our guidance on Business record keeping covers what records you need to keep and how long for.

However, there is a relaxation for childminders for expenses under £10 as no receipt needs to be kept for these transactions – an informal note detailing the costs can be used instead. If in one transaction there are individual items which each cost less than £10 but overall, the total cost is more than £10 then a receipt should be kept as per the usual business record keeping rules.

You also do not need to keep a copy of receipts for food and drink for the children you are minding, see the heading, Food and drink above for more details on how to calculate food and drink expenses.

Example – keeping records if not using Making tax Digital

Drew, a childminder, takes the children under his care out for a day trip incurring the following costs

Car parking £3.50
Fairground rides £8.00
Ice creams £4.00
Duck food £1.50
Soft play session £17.00

When preparing his accounts and tax return for his self-employment childminding business, Drew will not need to keep receipts for the car parking, fairground rides and duck food as each cost is individually less than £10.00 (although it may help Drew when preparing his accounts if he has as many business receipts as possible to hand) Nor will Drew need to keep a receipt for the ice cream he bought for the children he minds as it is a receipt for food (see above). Drew will need to keep the receipt for the soft play session for the relevant time of five years and 10 months following the end of the tax year that the expense relates to.

More information

There is more information on the rules for childminders who do not need to use Making Tax Digital for income tax on GOV.UK and in their Business income manual.

Alternative ways of allocating household costs if you do not want to use the percentages based on the number of hours worked, are explained within the Business income manual. There is also more information on fixed costs and running costs within the Business income manual.