How much childcare would I get covered by government

[xMummyto1boyx]

Hi all,

I'm a mummy to a 2 year old boy & usually when I go to work, my mum looks after my son but she has just informed me that she can’t have him anymore as she needs to go back to work full time which I totally understand, I have to send my child now to nursery or to a child minder, I have read that I get 30 hours a week free & still have to pay if I go over that & it will be expensive. But someone told me today that the government pays 85% off all child care cost. Is that true? Any advice will be very much appreciated please.
Thank you.
Abi x

All depends on your household income. Use turn2us or similar to see what help you can get. As far as the 30 hours that also has rules.

If you receive Universal Credit you can get back part of your childcare costs. Also certain benefits UC is one and you have to earn under £15,400 you get some hours free from the age of 2.

30 hours funding is from the term after they are three if you work.

You won't get 30 hours, not yet. Nit until the term after he turns 3. If low income or family in need, you might be eligible for 15 hours whilst he's 2.

Up to 85% paid for will be part of your UC claim so have a look at one of the benefit calculators and see what it comes up with.

Yes there are sometimes additional payments to be made but you'll have to check with each provider what those are.

30 funded hours kicks in the term after they turn 3. So if your son’s birthday is September to December, the funded hours will start the following January. If he has a January-March birthday, it will be April, if he has an April-end of August birthday then the hours will start in September. In most cases they aren’t free, they’re funded so you pay a top up amount for those hours, which is a lower hourly rate than normal hours. Funded hours are term time only. Some nurseries will allow you to spread the funding over the year but that will give you 22 funded hours per week vs 30 funded hours per week. If you take the term time only option, school holidays will be really expensive.

If your son hasn’t turned 3 before April next year, he will be eligible for 15 funded hours, with the 30 hours still starting the term after he turns 3. This is a recent government promise and hasn’t been put into place yet and so it isn’t clear how it will work but it’s assumed it’ll be similar to the 30 funded hours.

As long as you earn under £100k per year, you will be entitled to tax free childcare. The government do not pay 85% of childcare. They will top up your childcare by 20% up to £500 per 3 months. You receive your invoice from nursery and transfer 20% less than the amount on the invoice into the government childcare account, it is then topped up and you then pay nursery from that account. However, you can only access up to £500 per 3 months. For us with an almost 2 year old, that works out at about 3 days at 80% and 1 day at 100%. So we don’t get all our nursery bill at 80%.

If you are on a lower household income, you might be eligible for some UC top up towards childcare costs.

Totally depends on your circumstances

www.gov.uk/childcare-calculated