30 hours free childcare help!

[childcarehelp1]

My dd will be turning 3 this month. I currently work 2 days (15 hours) and claim back up to 85% of childcare costs through UC. Everything at the minute works out well for me, it's simple and I understand everything.

Maths is not my strong point. But am I right in thinking that the 30 free hours are only used in term time?

Because I will need dd to be in nursery every week for those two days that I will be at work, so is it a case of - I claim the 30 free hours term time, then pay whatever it costs during the holidays? Can I then put that on my UC and claim up to 85% of that back or not?

I don't know why I'm really struggling to wrap my head around it all. I'm just trying to figure out what would be most helpful without over complicating it. Thank you in advance.

Some settings will spread it over 52 weeks, so less funded hours each week.

30 hours, term time only, is 22 hours per week if spread across the years. I can't remember if that's 48 or 50 weeks though.

However, it's up to each setting how they administer their funded hours. Some don't offer 'stretched funding' across the year.

Some only offer funded hours on certain days, or for a set number of hours per day.

You really need to speak to your preferred setting before you even begin to try and work out your costs.

Just to add that your child will receive the funded hours from the term after they turn 3, not from their Birthday.

Check how your setting administers it. I think some may spread the 30 hours over 5 days a week so you can only claim 6hrs funded per day regardless of how many days your LO is there

As PPs have said, most nurseries will spread the hours across the year, so you get about 22 free hours a week. Check with your nursery - with ours the 'free' hours can't be used over lunchtime and doesn't include cost of food, so you still might have to pay a bit each day. For reference our nursery would usually cost £60 a day but with the 'free' hours I pay £23 a day.

Worth pointing out you and your DDs dad have to both be working 16 hours a week.

You must be earning the equivalent of 16 hours per week at national minimum wage or more. Someone can work less hours but if they are earning at least £1976 over the next 3 months then they are eligible. Both parents, unless single partners, have to earn this

Here you go..

You can get 30 hours of free childcare per week for 38 weeks of the year (during school term time).

You may be able to get free childcare for 52 weeks if you use fewer than 30 hours per week. Check with your childcare provider to find out if this is something they offer.

P.s I would like at places ASAP if not already done. My area filled up quickly I applied in January for April start and it was a nightmare finding availability for our chosen places. I've split mine so I use the full 30 hours in the week and pay in holidays as most childcare places where we live only offer sessions either mornings or afternoons. We have to pay a little extra for an earlier start out of session time.

Yes, you can use both the funding and the 85% claim back on UC.
So use the 30 hour funding (or 22 if it's stretched over the year) then anything left over on the invoice you can report on your UC.

Thank you everyone. I don't know if I'm just stupid or if these things are more complicated than they need to be.

Thank you @Slimemonster that's particularly helpful

They are overly complicated.
It doesn't help that the support on offer comes in several various guises of percentages/hours/age requirements/income requirements.

Anything offered by the government is stupidly complicated unfortunately.

if you’re using less than 30 hours a week try and find somewhere that offers stretched funding as that will really help. Many settings do so it’s worth asking.