Claiming 30 hours childcare help

[Samthecatswife]

I’m currently on adoption leave with my 3.5 year old and return to work in mid October. I know I can claim the free hours 31 days before I go back which will be beneficial in phasing my son’s nursery hours up slowly- so far so good.

However, I’ve made an account online and tried to apply for my code and got told to reapply 31 days before my return to work. This is in direct contrast to statements on the gov.uk website saying to apply for codes before the start of the term you want to use them in and to make sure you leave time for your claim to be processed and checked by your provider before you want to use it.

Has anyone else got round this issue? Do I just need to wait until mid September and hope the code is issued quickly? At this point in the process I’ve faced so much paperwork and this could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back! 😆

Thanks.

As I recall, the code came into the online account by the next day, so I don't think it will be a problem. Just don't forget to set yourself reminders for renewing it!

I had similar with my LO’s 15 free hours. The code comes in within a couple of days and I just set a reminder on my phone. I would make sure you have the childcare sorted beforehand though because, depending on the setting, there may be a wait list!

Also you will be eligible to tax free childcare which is also on the same account!

We had this problem too, which is why my partner is now going back beginning of September not mid October. The deadline for the autumn term is 31st August. You cannot submit the code after that date. If you miss the deadline you miss that terms funding.

You cannot apply midway through a term either - we missed out on spring term funding because of that too as we didn't get the letter from the social worker till March (our kids moved in in December) so we had to pay for nursery all that term

@claireb7rg this is exactly what I’m worried about! Did you managed to speak to anyone about it? Anyone with a summer born child eligible for the hours from September will have their code now so I feel like they should be able to work round this!

Thanks everyone, the childcare is in place and he’s there already 15 hours with his extended hours booked in. I assumed we could use the free hours to help transition him up to his four days but as with everything else it’s a lot more complicated that it first appears.

Nope, the kids Council are trying to claim back some funding for us as it was their mess up in not getting us the letter in time. But I'm.not holding my breath.

We can claim the 30 hours from the 7th August so I've got it in my calendar to do

It's really against adopters this system 😢

@claireb7rg I’ll call them as then as least I can say I tried! Why is everything so complicated? 😩

It was very much a computer says no situation for me. Our Council were not having it. Even with an explanation letter from the kids Council

We got the 15 hours at aged two but it was a pain to get. The health visitor was meant to do it but in the end the Nursery got it all done. They said they would have done it earlier if we had not paid them :-)

We did lose the 30 hours though as my partner became a full time student and so this dropped to 15 hours and no tax free child care. That was a kick in the bum.