30 Hour Nursery Provision

Eligibility for 30 hours free childcare

3 and 4 year old children are eligible for 30 hours free childcare since September 2017 where their household meets the following eligibility criteria:

• Both parents are working or one parent is working in lone parent families. This is defined as earning the equivalent of 16 hours per week on national minimum wage/national living wage, but less than £100,000 per year. This applies for self-employed and zero hour contracts.
• Both parents are employed but one or both of them are temporarily away from the workplace on parental, maternity, paternity or adoption leave.
• Both parents are employed but one or both of them are temporarily away from the workplace on statutory sick pay.
• One parent is employed and one parent has substantial caring responsibilities based on specific benefits received for caring.
• One parent is employed and one parent is disabled or incapacitated based on specific benefits.

Parents who access tax credits, universal credit, tax-free childcare and other schemes to help pay for any additional childcare will be eligible for 30 hours

Applying for funding

It is parent/carers’ responsibility to apply for funding. To access funding for your child please visit the website address below as soon as possible.

https://childcare-support.tax.service.gov.uk/

All offers of 30 hours free entitlement are subject to confirmation of eligibility.

Understanding the dates for the 30 hour code

When you use the Early Years Provider Hub to check a code is valid there will be some dates included in the result:

•  Validity Start Date: this is the date the parent was issued with the code by HMRC
•  Validity End Date: this is the date the parent must reconfirm their eligibility with HMRC
•  Grace Period End Date: this is the date up to which a child will be guaranteed a 30 hours place, even if the parent should fall out of eligibility. Grace period end dates will always be the end of term so either: 31 December; 31 March or 31 August.

Children cannot start to receive extended hours in the next term if the grace period end date is showing as the end of the current term.

All children are entitled to three hours of free Nursery education (Core Offer) between the hours of 9am – 12pm or 12pm – 3pm every day. However, for those not eligible for the additional 15 hours, the cost of any additional provision will be chargeable at £5.00 per hour (£75.00/week). Lunch can also be provided at a fixed cost of £2.20 per day (£11.00/week) and will include a hot meal, dessert and a drink. However, you are welcome to send your child in with a packed lunch if you prefer.