Childcare funding martin lewis

[bowzen]



Trying to get my head around childcare funding...
Does this mean children born before sept '23 are not entitled to the 30hrs for 2 year olds in sept '25!?! Even if they are 2.5 years old... sorry, worrying about the financial situation of it all!

Photo for reference!

That is what it says.

Oh that's annoying 🙁

In that graphic the 9-23m for Sep 25 refers to "full gain" for those born after the stated date. I wonder is the 2y equivalent is missing that same wording?

The Budget policy paper www.gov.uk/government/publications/spring-budget-2023/spring-budget-2023-html#growing-the-economy-1 says (about 40% of the way down)

From September 2025, all eligible working parents of children aged 9 months up to 3 years will be able to access 30 free hours per week.

I think that's just explaining the age the babies would be now. So my DC turns 2 this year and would be eligible for 15 hours from April 24 is my understanding.

Thank you for this, this gives me hope!

I'm just watching it on +1 atm and my reading of it as above does seem to tie in with what he said.

Wait so this 30hr free child care isn’t taking affect until 2025?!

Sep 2025 (for under 3's - its already there for 3+) and then for eligible parents.

By then we will probably have a Labour government so who knows. Either they will not bring this in or have to come up a plan pretty sharpish to make it work.

So the struggle shall continue until September then 😞 still great though for the parent who will benefit …eventually!! Should have been done years ago

No! Typical desperate vote winner for Tory party.

Having said that, they are also covering themselves because they know there are not enough nurseries and childminders at the moment to offer all these places so there would be a huge shit storm if they tried to offer it immediately.

It is highly likely we will have another government before 2025 who may completely scrap the idea altogether.

They could surely get something in place for those who already working and paying the child care though especially with this cost of living crap. I’m assuming the 30 hrs are just for the ones working? It bothers me that some 2 yes olds get the 15hr but if you’re working you do not why not implement this to all 2 yr olds in the meantime.

Currently the only 2 year olds that qualify for funding (15 hours) are those who are looked after, vulnerable or those in poverty.

In my area there is a huge demand for childcare and not enough places available. This is partly due to lockdown when nurseries closed and childminders left the profession for more stable jobs. Settings have also closed due to being underpaid for funded children for years and it not being sustainable.

So if the government were to offer even some of the hours immediately, the likelihood is that only those currently in a childcare setting would benefit. Those looking for childcare settings would quite rightly feel very pissed off because there are no spaces available and would be unfairly treated by comparison. And settings would not want to offer more funded places immediately as they would be losing even more money per funded child so need some sort of buffer period to work out the financial viability of their businesses.

They do not want to do that. There is no gain in that for them. They want to get the people who are at home because of childcare costs going out to work. That is why they are bothering. Otherwise they would leave it as it is.