The current 15 hours of funding for eligible 2-year-olds and 30 hours for eligible 3 and 4-year-olds will remain. The expanded offers will be introduced gradually in the following stages:
- from April 2024, eligible working parents of 2-year-olds will be able to access 15 hours of childcare funding
- from September 2024, 15 hours of childcare funding will be extended to eligible working parents of children from the age of 9 months to 3 years
- from September 2025, eligible working parents of children from 9 months to school age will be entitled to 30 hours of childcare a week
Like the existing offer, these hours can be used during school term time over 38 weeks of the year, or depending on your provider's delivery model, they may be used up to 52 weeks (stretched offer) if fewer hours are accessed per week.
Eligibility
The eligibility criteria for this new cohort of families is the same as the current offer for 3 and 4-year-olds.
The entitlements will continue to work on a termly basis. Therefore, children of eligible working parents will be able to receive the entitlement from the beginning of each term after they reach the relevant age.
Eligibility checks will continue to be undertaken by HMRC via an account on the Government Gateway. Eligible families will be provided with a code which needs to be presented to their provider to access the funding. The codes have an expiry date which is approximately 3 months from the start date and must be adhered to. Parents need to revalidate their code before it expires and children cannot access the funding without a valid code. These dates can be found in your childcare account on the Government Gateway.
Funding for 2-year-olds from April 2024
The first roll-out of the expansion to the early years funding is from April 2024.
Children will need to have reached their second birthday on or before 31 March 2024. Their parents will need to have successfully applied for, and be in receipt of, a code by the 31 March 2024 deadline to be eligible to access childcare from April 2024.
When to apply for funding for 2-year-olds
| When your child turns 2 | When you can get 15 hours funding from | Recommended time to apply |
|---|
| 1 April to 31 August 2023 |
term starting on or after 1 April 2024 |
January to March 2024 |
| 1 September to 31 December 2023 |
term starting on or after 1 April 2024 |
January to March 2024 |
| 1 January to 31 March 2024 |
term starting on or after 1 April 2024 |
January to March 2024 |
| 1 April to 31 August 2024 |
term starting on or after 1 September 2024 |
June to August 2024 |
The Department for Education issued an important update on 22 January 2024 for parents who already have a Tax-Free Childcare Account.
Apply for funded childcare if you're working
Funding for children aged 9 months to 3 years from September 2024
The second roll-out of the expansion to the early years funding is from September 2024.
Children will need to have reached 9-months-old on or before 31 August 2024. Their parents will need to have successfully applied for, and be in receipt of, a code by the 31 August 2024 deadline to be eligible to access childcare from September 2024.
When to apply for funding for children aged 9 months to 2 years
| When your child turns 9 months | When you can get 15 hours funding from | Recommended time to apply |
|---|
| 1 April to 31 August 2024 |
term starting on or after 1 September 2024 |
June to August 2024 |
| 1 September to 31 December 2024 |
term starting on or after 1 January 2025 |
October to December 2024 |
| 1 January to 31 March 2025 |
term starting on or after 1 April 2025 |
January to March 2025 |
30 hours funding from September 2025
The third and final roll-out of the expansion to the early years funding is from September 2025.
This stage will see the previous 15 hours funding increase to 30 hours for all eligible working families with children aged 9 months up to when they start school.
Eligibility criteria will be the same as the previous April and September roll-outs of 15 hours, and funding will be available from the term after the child reaches qualifying age.
Further information
Childcare Choices provides information for parents and providers on the government offers available to support families with childcare costs.
We expect this agenda to move quickly and are awaiting further detail. You can check the Childcare Choices - upcoming changes to childcare support for the latest information from the government on the changes.
You can contact the Families Information Service (FIS) email: info.fis@derbyshire.gov.uk or tel: 01629 535793 (from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday) with any queries. FIS will also keep updates on their Facebook page.