NHS bank workers - free nursery hours

[Hannah750]

Hi there!

I’m hoping someone can give me advice
I’m looking to apply soon for the upcoming free 15 hours of childcare for 9 months old plus. This is coming into effect of September 2024.
the problem is, it says online that each parent must earn at least £8670 a year. This is fine, however when I returned to work from maternity leave, I dropped my hours down to one day a week and I make up the rest of my week on bank shifts. Therefore I do actually work 50 hours a week, and earn over this amount, but my actual ‘salary’ from my permanent job is less than what is required for the free hours.

how do I get around this? I earn over the required amount but my ‘salary’ doesn’t cover this. It is my bank shifts that bring up my income! I have no idea how to approach this when applying for the free hours as it’s basically like having two jobs.

It will be your actual earnings as long as you earn over the £8k it’s fine

It's done through HMRC so they will know you actual earnings.

And don't apply until at least June, it's pointless otherwise. You have to reconfirm your eligibility every three months so your code will expire before you've even started.