How do I get hold a 30 hours code for my child?

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My son will turn 3 in August, so will be eligible for 30 hours childcare from September. He has a place at preschool from September, and they are chasing me for his 30 hours code, as they are submitting their numbers this week.

But...I can't work out how to get this code!

I have tax free childcare accounts for both my children. If I log in to my account and try to make a new application for my nearly three year old, I get this message: "You've already given this child's details. If this child already has a Tax-Free Childcare account and you want to apply for 30 hours free childcare, you should wait until its time to reconfirm your details. We'll send you a reminder about this when its time."

I reconfirmed my details today. I'm definitely eligible. I can't see anything else to do on the account, and I don't know what to do next.

I didn't apply for a code for my elder child, his just popped up on the tax free childcare account one day just after his third birthday. Do I need to tell the preschool that they have to wait until after my younger son's birthday in August for his code?

It's usually the term after he turns three. What month is his birthday?

Google 30 hour funding and it will have an eligibility thing and application

You won't have the code as he's not 3 yet.

You will find the code under;

30 hours free childcare

Here are your 30 hours free childcare codes for you to take to your childcare provider or local authority

See the attached image. It should be there already. Mine was there before the new term when my child turned 3. It was on the home page of your childcare account.

UPDATE - the code spontaneously appeared in the "30 hours free childcare" section of my account yesterday. It definitely wasn't there before that, I've been checking.

So the rule seems to be that if you already have a tax free childcare account for your child, you don't need to do an application for 30 hours as it will be processed automatically. But you won't be given any indication when the code will appear there (which isn't very helpful - my son's preschool need to submit his code for their funding by tomorrow. I thought he was going to lose his place!).

You still need to confirm your eligibility every 3 months. Don't forget to do this or you will lose the funding for the next term.

Thank you for this post!

My kid is 3 in March so from April she will have 30 hours.

I can reconfirm from today up until mid Feb.

The 30 hours thing isn't there (too early I guess)

Shall I reconfirm now or leave it closer to feb as the 30 hours thing might pop up? Not sure if one effects the other.

TIA x

For anyone else reading this, the answer is reconfirm as soon as possible and then keep checking back on the account to see if the code appears (screenshot above from previous poster)