The Tax and Customs Administration explains on its website how the childcare allowance is being handled, given that many children are not attending childcare due to the coronavirus crisis.
Continue to pay
The general advice is to continue paying your childcare bills. This is because this is a temporary emergency situation. You will continue to be entitled to the childcare allowance. And your place at the childcare centre will be kept for you until it reopens.
Whether you are obliged to pay for childcare, even though your children do not attend the centre, depends on the terms of the agreement you have entered into with the childcare organisation.
It is now clear that parents will be compensated for their personal contribution. See our article The personal contribution towards childcare is reimbursed.
Reporting changes
If you continue to pay for childcare, you do not need to notify the Tax and Customs Administration/Benefits of any changes. Your entitlement to childcare allowance will then continue.
You must, of course, report any other changes. For example, if you have been made redundant, your contract with the childcare provider has ended, or your income has changed.