30 hours please advise

[devoncoast]

Hello,
I am self-employed and have a child due to start preschool. I am just wondering when you are self-employed how do they calculate if you are eligible for the 30 funded hours as my income varies depending on the time of year. Do they base it on what class 2's you have paid, although I do not always earn enough to pay these I pay them regardless to cover myself. Or is it based on income figures?

Also his preschool only does 20 hours a week max. Is it possible to stretch the offer so i can use some at a childminder say 2 hours in term time then in total doing 22 hours a week but over 50 weeks? so during the holidays doing 22 hours with the childminder he normally does 2 with. or to stretch the offer would this need to be used at the same service where he is doing most of the hours doing the term?

Sorry if the above doesn't make sense, it's all a bit confusing to me. Thanks

I believe that for self-employed individuals it is based on what you predict you will earn in the coming year, though if you have been trading for a few years they may look at past data. So average out your business profits... if that is £116 (I think) or more per week average for April 18-March 19, then you would be eligible.

The 30 hours funding is term time only and is only offered by some providers. So whilst you can split between two providers (contact your local authority to confirm that) you may not find a childminder who would take the funding for just a couple of hours. The max yearly hours is 1140 (30hours x 38weeks), so in theory you could do 22 hours per week x 52 weeks = 1144 hours, thus pay for 4 hours... if you can find childcare providers who accept that.

I would just use it with pre-school if they accept it. If you currently use a childminder, ask them about it.