Up to £2,000 free towards cost of childcare

Up to £2,000 free towards cost of childcare, ‘free’ annual garden pass, Nectar and Clubcard points boost. These are our Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis’ Quick Deals.

Remember, deals can change quickly, even while I’m on the programme. So always double-check the terms and conditions before spending. Plus, while I hope these deals will save you cash, don’t spend if you can’t afford it, don’t need it, or won’t use it.

Parents of under four year olds can now apply for up to £2,000/year free to pay for childcare

We’re in the first week of the new tax-free childcare system. This a new Government scheme where parents can open an online account via the Government’s Childcare Choices website and for every 80p they put in the Government will add 20p up to a maximum amount of £2,000 per child – all the money in the account must then be used to pay for Ofsted registered childcare. It’s now available for parents with children who will be under 4 years old on 31 August 2017, and will be rolled out to all parents of older children by the end of this year.

To be eligible to get it, you need to work roughly more than 16 hours a week (or both of you do, if in a couple) and earn less than £100,000 each. But crucially you can get it even if you’re self-employed, unlike the childcare voucher scheme, which is only available for those whose employer offers it.

The childcare voucher scheme is still running though, and as long as you’re a member before April 2018 it can keep going afterwards. If your employer offers it, it allows you to swap part of your salary for vouchers, effectively letting you pay for childcare from pre-tax income. Yet you can only use one scheme.

Which wins is complex, in summary though tax-free childcare wins for those with more children and have higher childcare costs, whereas childcare vouchers wins for those with fewer children and lower childcare costs. For a full explanation of both schemes and which is best see Martin’s full ‘Tax-free childcare’ guide.

Free 2for1 annual garden pass in £4.75 mag

Buy May's BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine (£4.75, out until Monday 29 May) and in it you’ll get a card that gives 2for1 adult entry to 398 UK gardens until 12 April 2018. Just turn up to any of the participating gardens, including Eden Project in Cornwall (adult ticket costs £27.50), Kew Gardens in Surrey (up to £15/adult), and Sudeley Castle Gardens in Gloucestershire (up to £14.95/adult) and show your card. Even if you don’t want to read the magazine, visiting just one garden costing more than £4.75 – will be worth it.

10x Nectar points boost this bank holiday weekend

Usually you earn 1 Nectar point per £1 spent in Sainsbury’s, but from today (Friday 28 April) till Monday (1 May) you’ll earn 10 points for every £1 spent (so the points are worth 5p instead of the usual 0.5p), when you swipe your Nectar card in all superstores, local stores and most petrol stations. It also works on online grocery, home and electrical orders that are delivered between 28 April and 1 May. So if you've been planning to make any big purchases, it's worth doing it this weekend. Though it has cancelled its normal double up redemption scheme which normally occurs sometime in March/April.

Last chance. ‘Free’ 500 Clubcard points

Download the free Tesco PayQwiq app (available on Android and iOS), and add your credit/debit card on to it (Tesco will deduct £2 to make sure the card is genuine, but it’ll then pay it back to you), plus your Tesco Clubcard details. Then use the app to pay for your Tesco shopping – just open the app and swipe the barcode in store. But as an added bonus you can earn 50 Clubcard points on each of the first 10 times you use the app before stores close on Sunday 7 May – so that’s 500 free points (or £20 of vouchers using Clubcard boost), which’ll be added to your Clubcard account within two weeks of making the transaction. If you won’t go that often, just split your shopping up into separate transactions to make it work.