Would I qualify for 15 hours? Maternity pay query

[Historygirl91]

Hi all,
I’m currently on mat leave, my dd will be 10 months old when she starts nursery in Sept 24, so luckily we should be eligible for 15 hours funding.
I’ve just checked the .gov website and it says to qualify each parent needs to earn £2,167 over 3 months.
My concern is that I receive my last maternity payment in July and then nothing in August and September, returning to work on 30 September. My mat pay is 1.2k so does this mean I won’t qualify for a childcare code or do they base this on the previous 3 months?
I’m going to ask my employer to return me to payroll for my August pay cheque to cash in on my accrued holidays during mat leave which would bump me over the £2.1k.

DH and I are relying on the 15 hours to make childcare more affordable so I’m panicking a bit now.

Thanks for reading

If you're on maternity leave you will usually be eligible. I can't say you definitely will, but it would be worth applying.

You can apply from 12th May from here www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

You cannot apply whilst on maternity leave (although I think you can 31 days before your return). Once you return, your usual salary will be considered (not your maternity pay).

I have done this 3 times now and it was always okay to receive the full funding, despite taking a year off for each maternity leave and not even earning smp by the end!

Thanks both for replying. I’m not due back until 30th September, I think I’ll have to return a bit early in order to get the funding as the nursery said I need to provide the code by 1st September. X