30 hours childcare code

[Platano]

I applied for the UK 30 hours childcare for Sep -Dec 2024 on the 17 August. It was the earliest I could have applied given my change of immigration status only a few days prior.
After applying I received a message to say it could take 7/10 days, so it’s likely I won’t receive it before the 31 August, when the nursery needs it for the September fees.
My question is, if I receive the code sometime in September, could I then still use it for the rest of the term, ie October, November and December, or do I have to wait until the January term?

@Platano If you want to chase it up you can speak to HMRC on 0300 1234 097

If your code has a start date of later than 31st August it's highly likely you won't be able to use it in the autumn term.
However, some LAs will accept codes issued after the deadline, so it would be worth checking this with your own LA.
Fingers crossed you get it issued before the end of August so you don't encounter any problems.

This is from the guidance documents about the childcare offer.
I was really surprised it’s different but then we get 30 hours for 48 weeks of the year so I suppose it’s got to be done separately

Thank you, that's really interesting.

Would you mind saying which LA this is, please?

Are you in Wales?
That's why it's different as each country has its own childcare offer.

There's possibly confusion as hmrc give out the codes but the funding is claimed from the local authority direct.
Also I'm not 100% but I think you apply directly through the LA for the old 2 year old funding for deprived children. Don't think hmrc get involved in that side of it.

Yes I'm in Wales. I know we have our own childcare offer but I just assumed in England it would still be done by the local authority rather than centrally. I feel like that makes more sense!

No, all done by HMRC here in England.
Local Authorities don't have the required information on parent's earnings to decide eligibility, so all decisions and codes issued by them centrally.

Update : I got the code this morning, so all good. I underestimated the HMRC - they’ve been pretty quick with most things to be honest!