Apply for funded childcare if you're working
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.
When to apply
You can apply from when your child is 23 weeks old, and need to apply a term ahead of when you wish to access the support. The timeline is set out as follows:
- When your child turns 9 months: 1 September to 31 December
- When you can apply for their free hours: Term starting on or after 1 September
- When they can start getting their free hours from: Term starting on or after 1 January
- When your child turns 9 months: 1 January to 31 March
- When you can apply for their free hours: Term starting on or after 1 January
- When they can start getting their free hours from: Term starting on or after 1 April
- When your child turns 9 months: 1 April to 31 August
- When you can apply for their free hours: Term starting on or after 1 April
- When they can start getting their free hours from: Term starting on or after 1 September
30 hours funding from September 2025
The first two stages of the new childcare expansion have now been introduced. Stage one began in April 2024, offering 15 hours of funded childcare for eligible 2-year-olds. Stage 2, which started in September 2024, expanded the program to include 15 hours of funded childcare for eligible children 9 months to two years.
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 rollouts of 15 hours, and funding will be available from the term after the child reaches qualifying age.
National Wraparound Childcare Programme
The National Wraparound Childcare Programme is part of the childcare reforms announced in the 2023 Spring Budget.
The government's ambition is that by 2026, all parents and carers of primary school-aged children who need it will be able to access term time childcare in their local area from 8am to 6pm.
Wraparound childcare is childcare that 'wraps around' the conventional school day, it can also refer to provision in the school holidays.
For the purpose of the National Wraparound Childcare Programme, the term 'wraparound childcare' refers to provision directly before and after the school day, during school term time. It should be available every school day outside of regular school hours, which is different to out-of-school activities, or school clubs, which are less frequent and can be a one-off or short-term activity.
The Wraparound Lead is Claire Colson, childcare sufficiency manager in the early years team.
If you're looking for wraparound childcare options for your primary school aged child, speak to your child's school in the first instance as they will have local knowledge of the childcare available, or will be able to highlight the need for more childcare availability in the area.
The Derbyshire Families Information Service (FIS) can also provide information on the wraparound care currently available in your area. You can contact FIS by email info.fis@derbyshire.gov.uk or telephone: 01629 535793.
The fees for wraparound provision are set by providers, however there are government schemes available to parents and carers to help with childcare costs, including tax-free childcare and Universal Credit Childcare.
If you're a childcare provider and interested in expanding your current wraparound provision or are looking to open new provision, there's funding available to support the National Wraparound Programme. For more information on this, including eligibility criteria, application forms and terms and conditions, please email cs.sufficiencyservice@derbyshire.gov.uk.
'Expansion' of current wraparound provision or 'new' wraparound provision must meet the programme requirements. For more information, view the National Wraparound Childcare Programme Handbook - a guide for local authorities.
If you're interested in applying for the National Wraparound Childcare Programme, please email cs.sufficiencyservice@derbyshire.gov.uk.
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 telephone: 01629 535793 (from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday) with any queries. FIS will also keep updates on their Facebook page.