Childcare hours while on Maternity?

Interesting... I reapplied for tax free childcare while on maternity (nothing else changed) and they've rejected it and I'm having to send husband's payslips in etc. Nightmare! Really don't understand why

Not for your first, you have to be returning within 30 days to be accepted. If you’re on mat leave with your second and your first uses the hours then you’re still eligible when on leave. If you want your child in sooner you’d hair have to pay full price until you qualify for the free hours x

Yeah I applied for it while still on maternity back then in July or August and I got it. I went back to work in Sept though and using the 15 free hours starting this Jan

As far as I’m aware you will keep getting it for children that are already receiving it but you can’t make a new claim until 30 days before you return to work

I applied in December (returning to work in feb) and was given a temp code to give to the nursery. Have to complete the online application this month (within 31 days of return to work) to get the real code. Also depends on babies age and also your return to work date within their set terms…

Assuming you hit all the other criteria then you'll be eligible as you're still employed while on maternity leave. It looks like your child is almost 9 months and I think the funding starts from the school term after the turn 9 months. So as long as that works out you'll be able to use the funded hours. Please remember they're funded, not free! There's always something to pay and restrictions on how you can use them. In terms of the tax free childcare scheme, you can use it along with the hours but you can only apply 30 days before you return to work. Also, remember you need a nursery place secured and that's separate to the funding. The funding is just one of the ways to pay and it's separate from having a place. It doesn't matter if you qualify for all the funding if you've not got on a list in time to get a place.

Have you got a nursery place secured? We had to secure ours in back in June and even then it was possibly too late.

My application still says pending for my little one cause am on mat leave with him. But for my eldest it was fine.

I had to bring my return to work forward in order to get the 15 funded hours. So I officially returned to work on 6th Jan but am using up my annual leave & go back at the end of February. My daughter started nursery on Monday x

We applied, didn’t get the letter within two weeks. So we rang and got a temporary code as our nursery needed it for the funding. As long as baby turns 9 month before term starts it can be used in that term. My little one starts in March and has 15hr allocated.