The shortfall follows months of technical hitches and delays with the online registration system.
The Office for Budget Responsibility's (OBR) forecast, published this week alongside the Budget, reveals that just 30,000 parents had registered for Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) by October instead of the 415,000 expected.
Due to the 93 per cent fall in expected take-up of the scheme, the OBR's forecast shows there has been a 90 per cent reduction in expenditure allocated to Tax-Free Childcare.
Within its Autumn Budget 2017 policy measures document (pages 239/240), the OBR states, 'We have assumed a slower pace of take-up than we did in March.
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