Childcare service | Set up a new Government Gateway account
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childcare-support.tax.service.gov.ukHere’s the latest on government childcare account login issues I could gather.
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There have been reports of HMRC/UK Childcare accounts experiencing downtime and login problems, including users being locked out and 403 errors during maintenance windows. The HMRC service said it was urgently working to fix the issue. This indicates ongoing outages can affect login access for several hours or days.[3]
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The official GOV.UK page for signing in to your childcare account remains the primary entry point, with guidance to sign in and keep details up to date every 3 months. If you’re using Tax-Free Childcare or Free Childcare for Working Parents, you should sign in there to manage payments and eligibility. This is the most authoritative source for login steps and account management.[4]
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If you’re starting fresh or needing to set up access, there are GOV.UK resources about setting up a Government Gateway (now often part of the Gov.uk sign-in system) to access childcare services, including Tax-Free Childcare. If you recently encountered login issues, rechecking setup steps on these pages can help confirm your account configuration.[8][9]
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For context beyond the UK, some guidance pages describe general login workflows for related childcare accounts, but these are not official for the UK Gov.uk system. If you’re outside the UK or using a different program, confirm the correct portal from your local government site.[2][5]
What you can do now
- Check the official sign-in page on GOV.UK for Tax-Free or Working Parents childcare accounts and follow the “Sign in” flow there. If you’ve forgotten credentials, use the recovery options provided on that page.[4]
- If you’re in the UK and recently faced a service outage, try again later and monitor the GOV.UK status pages or HMRC social updates for incident notices and estimated restoration times.[3]
- If you need to set up a new account, use the GOV.UK setup paths for Government Gateway or Gov.uk sign-in as outlined in the setup guides.[9][8]
Would you like me to pull the direct, current status updates from GOV.UK or HMRC for today and summarize any reported outage times? I can also tailor guidance to whether you’re dealing with Tax-Free Childcare or Free Childcare for Working Parents.[3][4]