free childcare for working parents can apply for National Insurance(NI) credits to their State Pension from today. NI credits were introduced from April 2011 and you may be entitled to receive these if you are a grandparent, or other family member, who cares for a child under 12 - usually while their parent, or main carer, is working.
Since March 2020, normal caring arrangements may have been affected by coronavirus, but if you have provided care in a different way, for example over the telephone, by video, or socially distance contact, you can still apply for NI credits for the financial years 2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021.