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Early Years education entitlement and new funding for your children from April 2024

The new funding will be issued as following:

  • 15 hours for 2 year olds in eligible working households from April 2024 (in addition to the existing entitlements for 2, 3 & 4 year olds continuing);
  • 15 hours for 9 month olds to 2 year olds in eligible working households from September 2024;
  • 30 hours for 9 month olds to 2 year olds in eligible working households from September 2025;
  • Universal Credit for Childcare paid upfront, up to £951 for one child or £1630 for two children.

Information about the
30-hour free childcare entitlement
(Extended hours)

Our nursery can provide  30-hour free childcare extended entitlement for your child’s care, but not all families are eligible for this funding, as you have to meet the particular eligibility and  earnings criteria: 

  • Family must in England.
  • Child must be 3 to 4 years old.
  • To qualify, each parent (or the sole parent in a single parent family) will need to earn, on average, at least the equivalent of 16 hours on the national minimum wage per week (currently £120 per week for people aged 25 and over  or £112.80 per week age 21-24), and no more than £100,000 per year.
  • Self-employed parents and parents on zero-hours contracts will be eligible if they meet the average earnings criteria. Families where one parent is not in paid employment (or neither parent works) will usually not be eligible for 30 hours.
  • There are exceptions for parents who are on parental, maternity, paternity, adoption or sick leave, they can still be eligible.
  • Parents who are studying or in training will not be eligible unless this is combined with paid work which meets the minimum average earnings threshold.
  • However, parents will be eligible where one parent is in receipt of benefits relating to caring responsibilities or has a disability and the other parent is working. Single parents who are disabled or have substantial caring responsibilities will not be eligible.
  • If parents are separated, eligibility requirements will apply to the parent with whom the child ‘normally lives’, and any partners of parents will also have to meet them.
  • The link to apply is here. Parents have to apply on their own, nursery can not do this in behalf of the parents, as there are confidential information about family income and so on.
  • To be eligible for 30 hours free childcare, parents must have a National Insurance number and at least one of the following: British or Irish citizenship or settled or pre-settled status.

In case parents income changes, become jobless or changing their jobs, they will be put on the ”Grace period” for few months and will still be able to get a funding during this period.

When parents receive confirmation of their eligibility from HMRC, they will receive a code to give to our nursery. 

Parents will be required reconfirm their eligibility every three months by making a declaration that they expect their earnings to fall within the required threshold. 

Families, who have 3 – 4 years old children, but do not qualify for the Extended funding, will still be able to get the Universal  funding – 15 hours. You don’t need to do anything in order to get this funding, nursery will apply for this for you.

Tax-Free Childcare

If you are not claiming Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit or Universal Credit, you might be eligible to get a Tax-Free Childcare support from the Government.

Your family must comply with the same eligibility criteria as mentioned above for the 30-hour free childcare extended entitlement. 

All you have to do is to apply online here and if you are successful you will be given an account within HMRC, where you will make payments to the nursery for the childcare, but HMRC will top-up them by 20%. For every £8 you pay into this account, the government will pay in £2 to use to pay your provider.

The maximum amount you can get is up to £2,000 a year for each of your children to help with the costs of childcare or up to £4,000 a year if a child is disable.

Your child must be 11 or under and usually live with you. They stop being eligible on 1 September after their 11th birthday. Or up to 16 years old if your child is disabled.

You can use it to pay for approved childcare, for example: childminders, nurseries and registered nannies, after school clubs and play schemes.

You can get Tax-Free Childcare at the same time as 30 hours free childcare if you’re eligible for both. You don’t need to apply for them separately, if you were already given a 30 hours code you will be automatically eligible for a Tax-free childcare.

You cannot get Tax-Free Childcare at the same time as claiming Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, Universal Credit or childcare vouchers. If you successfully apply for Tax-Free Childcare, your Working Tax Credit or Child Tax Credit will stop straight away. You cannot apply for them again. Which scheme you’re better off with depends on your situation. Use the childcare-calculator to work out which type of support is best for you.

Please find the links below for more information: 

www.childcarechoices.gov.uk
www.gov.uk/government/news
tax-free-childcare https://find.redbridge.gov.uk