Free childcare

I'm head is pickled with the free childcare allowance We have our nursery place confirmed and will be starting a phased start in mid June for two reasons. To help both me and the little one get into a new routine and 2nd that's all they could do until more days are available towards the end of the year. The question is for babies born in September what and when are they entitled to the free childcare? The government website doesn't make it very clear. Thanks

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From Sept 2025 you will be able to get 30 hours a week for 38 weeks a year

Not to split hairs, but just to check you know that the childcare isn’t free. It is partially funded. Even if your child is only there 15 hours or less, you will still have fees to pay. The way nursery’s set their fees, a portion is for childcare and a portion is for other things e.g meals, wipes etc. The funding only covers the childcare costs and not the other costs. It’s also worth noting that the funded hours only apply to term time although will likely be pro ratered across the full year

U get government funded hours the term after they've turned 9 months. So September babies turn 9 month in may but that term a starts on may 1st. N all September babies will be 8 months before may 1st so we can't get funding until the following term which starts September 1st. So September babies can't get funding until September 1st 2025, but good news it goes from 15hrs to 30 in September 2025

@Annabel it depends on the nursery some nurseries include meals and stuff in government funding some nurseries charge non core fees. And although u are right government funding does only cover term time so 38 weeks of the year a lot of nurseries will allow u to use 20 out of the 30 hours a week and if u only use 20hrs instead of 30 it will cover 52 weeks so always double check and ask ur nurseries If they have flexible hours with government funding. So far every nursery I've ask all do this x

@Annabel yeah sorry I should have said the contribution to childcare.. still going to cost a fortune but every penny and all that haha

The YouTuber 'HomewithShan' makes a couple of easy to understand videos on this. It will be for previous years but you can apply the same info but with the current hours

@Rachel Hi’ sorry to jump in, can this be spread into a whole year as well? xx

@Hannah yes. But it averages to only 22 hours per week as it's based on 38 weeks at 30 hours

Thanks everyone. Should have just asked you guys first instead of confusing myself more and more online haha xx

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