Half-term is a short week with a full-sized invoice. In the typical England pattern, children are off on the weekdays of 26 to 30 October 2026. The club should already be booked. If there is a row, it is about who pays.
What follows is for co-parents in the UK: the days, the likely cost, what child maintenance does with the bill, and the help you can claim. It is general information, not legal advice and not a benefits decision.
Map the days before you split the bill
England and Scotland do not share a school calendar. Academies and training days move the edges. Wales publishes approved term dates and Northern Ireland publishes school holidays, and a school can still close around them.
Our school holiday planner uses 26 to 30 October 2026 as the typical English weekdays off. A common Scottish October break falls earlier in the month, so it may already be over. The planner’s Northern Ireland dates put Halloween at the end of October. Check the GOV.UK school term and holiday dates finder, then the letter from school. Two children can mean two calendars. In a blended family, one child can still be in class while the other is off.
Before anyone pays, note which days each home has the children, who can cover a day, which days need a paid place, and who is booking. A parent on shifts and a parent working from home might use a club Monday to Thursday and a grandparent on Friday, and pay for four days. Platonic co-parents, including parents of a donor-conceived child, may live further apart. The parent near school can do drop-off, and that help is separate from the bill.
Agree the rule once
Save one sentence and reuse it in February, at Easter and in the summer: “We split holiday childcare in half, and the parent near school books it.”
What the week tends to cost
Coram Family and Childcare’s Holiday Childcare Survey 2026 put a holiday club at £190.77 a week across Great Britain: £189.71 in England, £179.95 in Scotland and £223.59 in Wales. Northern Ireland is not in the survey. Inside England the same table runs from £226.55 a week in the South East to £160.14 in the North West. Local authorities reported those averages between April and June 2026, so ask your club for a written price, including meals, trips and early drop-off.
Six weeks of holiday club, the summer figure, was £1,145 per child across Great Britain. A week at a holiday club costs almost three times a week of after-school care (about £70 in the same survey), and childminders averaged £251.48 a week. See summer holiday schedules for the long break and co-parenting on a budget for the rest of the year.
Child maintenance is a different bill
Child maintenance is support towards a child’s everyday living costs. The Child Maintenance Service calculates it from the paying parent’s gross income, the number of children, and overnight stays. A holiday club is not a line in that sum. Paying maintenance does not swallow the club. Receiving it does not assign the club to you.
Use our child maintenance estimate beside the official GOV.UK calculator. The Service makes the decision, and Northern Ireland has its own rules. If you agree money between yourselves, put childcare on GOV.UK’s worksheet, Working out the cost of raising your children.
Four ways to split the fee
The law does not name a default payer. Pick one approach, write it in a sentence, and use it at the next break.
| Approach | How it works | When it fits |
|---|---|---|
| Parent with the children | Whoever has the weekdays pays the club. | One home has the whole week, and you are both content. |
| Half each | Split the fee in half, even if most days sit in one home. | You both rely on childcare in order to work. |
| By income | Agree a percentage once and apply it every holiday. | A straight half would strain the lower earner. |
| Swap the bills | One parent pays this club. The other pays a similar child cost. | You would rather trade whole bills. |
- One person books. Two bookings means two deposits.
- Split the price you agreed. A residential camp is a new conversation, held before anyone pays.
- Settle within seven days of the receipt, and log it in the expense calculator so February starts from a number.
If the deadline arrives before the rule does, book only the days someone can cover and say in writing that it is for this week. The working days between Christmas and New Year need the same rule. Our Christmas guide is about the 25th.
Help that can bring the price down
Tax-Free Childcare
For every £8 paid into a childcare account, the government adds £2, up to £2,000 a year per child, or £4,000 if the child is disabled. Holiday clubs qualify when the provider is signed up, usually for a child aged 11 or under (16 if disabled). Separated parents choose one applicant. You cannot both hold an account for the same child; if you cannot choose, HMRC decides. Pay the club from the account so the top-up arrives. Rules: GOV.UK.
Universal Credit
Universal Credit can pay back up to 85% of registered childcare, including holiday clubs: up to £1,071.09 a month for one child and £1,836.16 for two or more. You pay the provider, then report the cost. You cannot also use Tax-Free Childcare. See GOV.UK. A child sits on one claim, so both separated parents cannot claim childcare costs for the same child. The Department for Work and Pensions has set that out.
A free place in England
The Holiday Activities and Food programme funds free holiday places through English councils for children on targeted free school meals. From this October half-term that includes Universal Credit households with earnings of £7,400 a year or less. A free school meal under the wider September 2026 expansion does not, by itself, bring a funded place. Ask the school which group your child is in, then ask the council what is bookable. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are outside this programme, so ask the local council there.
When you cannot agree in time
Hold the week, and take the standing rule to family mediation. A MIAM — a first meeting with a mediator — is what most parents attend before a children application. Cafcass is involved once a case is in court, which a club invoice is not. An application will not be decided before Monday. A short message will: the dates, the price, the days someone can cover, and when you need a reply.
One calendar, one receipt
A shared calendar holds the days. Expense tracking holds what the club cost, who paid, and what is left. If the children change house mid-week, the handover checklist covers the club letter and the PE kit.
Frequently Asked Questions
This page is general information as published in October 2026, not legal advice and not financial or benefits advice. Use the GOV.UK pages linked above, and speak to a mediator or solicitor about your own case. Child maintenance rules differ in Northern Ireland.
One place for the week and the receipt
🐦 Larkling’s shared calendar, messaging and expense tracking are on the free plan, for both homes. Put the half-term days where you can both see them, log the club receipt, and use Solo Mode if your co-parent does not sign up.
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