Childcare funding
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@Yasmin this is right. I can't apply until 31 days before I go back to work, which means it's end of March, for little one to start end of April.. cutting it tight...
@Valeria my advice is do it the earliest date you can! We applied before the deadline but because they kept asking for extra proof of income we got the code later than the deadline (there’s a separate deadline to receive the code by which they don’t tell you) so we had to pay full fees for 3 months and then claim the money back retrospectively which we were very lucky we could afford to do otherwise we’d have had no childcare x
You won’t get the 15hr funding until the time after she’s 9 months, but remember you can get tax free childcare. It’s through the same gov account.
@Yasmin oh dear... I've already set up a reminder to do it exactly 31 days before, hopefully it will be fine 🤞🏼🤞🏼 in your case, how long after the normal deadline was the separate deadline? I understand i need to apply by 31st March, not sure how long it takes for the code to be given..
@Emily I have no idea about this! So do you think I should create the government account now so I can claim the tax free? Do I pay the nursery fees into that account?
@Diana yeah you can set up your account, and then you let them know when you are returning to work (as mentioned above 30 days before) and then you’ll receive a code to give to the nursery for the tax free childcare. Whatever your nursery invoice is, deduct 20% off that, and then transfer that amount into the gov account and the gov will top up the 20% and you set up a transfer from the gov account to the nursery ☺️
@Emily thank you so much x
@Valeria 15 days. They didn’t ask for the extra documents until 13 days and didn’t issue the code until 16 days later 🤦🏽♀️ I’ve heard of some people being given the code almost instantly though so I may just have got unlucky but worth giving yourself as much time as possible x
Funding starts the term after they’ve turned 9 months. So if your little one turns 9 months in April, funding will start in the September.