Will we qualify for funded childcare in Sept?

[calishire]

I've had a look online on the childcare choices website and I'm confused as to whether we will qualify for funded childcare in September. I know we will only qualify through the working families pathway as we don't fit any other of the circumstances. My husband works full time.

I came off maternity leave in January and I'm working 2.5 hours a week currently so do not qualify for the 15 hours as I'm not earning enough (baby was born March 2025). My plan was to increase my hours from September when the 30 hours funding comes into play. I know I need to apply before September. Our nursery has advised to apply before the end of July. I realised as I was filling in the paperwork for the nursery yesterday that I may need to increase my hours before September to qualify. Can anyone confirm? Can your plans be in the future to meet the income threshold or do you have to be earning the minimum amount when you apply? The childcare website says you don't need to meet the requirements if you are coming off a statuatory leave like mat leave which made me think I may need to increase my hours sooner in order to have our application accepted as I'm not coming off a statuatory leave. Hope this makes sense. Just wondering if anyone can advise or if not, who I need to speak to. I'd prefer to wait until September to increase my hours, but could increase them sooner if it means I wouldn't qualify otherwise. I was hoping to spend the summer off with both the baby and my older child who is school age.

I don't have a standard 9-5 office job. I'm a swim teacher so work for more than one employer and odd hours. I know at least one of my employers pays in arrears so in theory if I didn't work much in August, I wouldn't be paid much in September so this is another reason I'm also wondering if my plan is just not feasible :(

I believe you have to meet the criteria when you apply or within 30 days of your application being submitted to qualify.

If your baby was born in march 2025 then they won’t be 9 months by the 31st August so you wouldn’t qualify anyway for September.

You can only apply 30 days before a change in circumstances. The difficulty with the mess that is this system, is that providers have to apply to the LA long before this to get the funding paid in time - which is why your nursery would have said this.

Sorry should have said baby born March 2024 🙈

if you miss the cut off of 31 August (to start 1 September) the next cut off/start date is 31 Dec/1 Jan.

Can you expand on this? So what would my change of circumstances be? The increase in hours? So if I want my baby to start the first week of September, when do I need to meet the earnings threshold?

I guess what I’m realizing is that I may need to work for zero money/very little for a bit of time before we qualify for this funding. I didn’t bother with working enough for the 15 hours because swim teaching has odd hours. The 30 hours is a much better for us (and everyone I guess!).

Yes, your increase in hours.

Although after I posted, I saw the post saying she won’t be 9mo before September, so she won’t qualify until January anyway.

Yes I know there’s a cut off and I don’t want to miss it but I’m just realizing now that I may need to increase my hours of employment now rather than in September to qualify 😭

I thought the application was going to be a bit more like the tax free childcare where you just certify that you’ll be earning x amount over the next three months but it sounds like it’s a slightly different application and it’s verified by HMRC presumably by checking your payslips or something.

Baby is 14 months now. He was born March 2024. OP was a typo.

The helpline might be worth calling. They were quite helpful when I had to ring about change of circumstances 0300 123 4097

Are you self employed? When I started my limited company a few years ago I found out that you get a years grace period on funding before you are supposed to meet the funding requirements. It's very cheap to go limited.

I'm not sure how it works if you have been e.g. a sole trader already. Something to look into.

Also it isn't based on just hours, it's based on income. If you have an hourly rate higher then minimum wage you don't need to be doing 16 hours. It's the equivalent of 16hours at minimum wage.

From https://www.gov.uk/free-childcare-if-working/check-youre-eligible

Your income
Over the next 3 months you and your partner (if you have one) must each expect to earn at least:

• £2,539 before tax if you’re aged 21 or over (equivalent to £195 per week)
• £2,080 before tax if you’re aged 18 to 20 (equivalent to £160 per week)
• £1,570 before tax if you’re under 18 or an apprentice (equivalent to £120 per week)

This is the National Minimum Wage or Living Wage for 16 hours a week on average. You can use an average of how much you expect to earn over the current tax year if:

• you work throughout the year but do not get paid regularly
• you’re self-employed and do not expect to earn enough in the next 3 months

You won’t be classed as “ coming off statutory mat leave” in September then.

Yes I have realized that hence wondering how I need to work my timing with increasing my hours.

@Cerialkiller I could open a limited company just to run myself on a payroll, but I don’t really want the admin.

I am not self-employed right now but may pick up
some self employed work. The pay rate is anywhere from £15-25 (maybe even £30 in some places) an hour across the swim schools I teach at. Before mat leave I was making £800-£1200 a month doing 9-12 hours a week. I’m not overly worried about meeting the threshold once I up my hours as I live in a metropolitan area and there’s a huge demand for awim
teachers as there aren’t enough around.

I did have an experience once where the boiler broke at a pool I was working at and I was out of work for several weeks though as that particular contract was zero hours. I think I can claim on my insurance if that happens again though.

Thanks for the suggestion up thread about calling a helpline as I think I probably need to do that.

"Before mat leave I was making £800-£1200 a month doing 9-12 hours a week."

So you don't need 30 hours childcare then?

She doesn’t have to take the full 30. If she’s eligible, she would be eligible for any number of hours, up to 30.

You need to up your hours before September and apply for the funding by 31st August insuring that you meet the criteria and are earning 196 per month. HMRC will check you are eligible from your national insurance number

@YourWiseSheepOk. I’ll probably still call the helpline but I’ve applied for a couple jobs yesterday and have an interview already. Shame as I wanted to spend the summer holidays with my older one and the baby but it’ll just be part-time anyway for now. Can always increase my hours a bit more in September.

Just to correct sorry, this should be £195 per week, not month.

Why not? People often commute either side of their working day. Even working from home involves drop offs, getting back home and heading back out to pick them up again.

@SofiewooYes, thank you. If I was doing the same shifts as I was before mat leave, I’d need at least 20 hours (4 afternoon sessions). And that doesn’t include childcare for the weekend shift I was doing previously 🙄. And obviously it’s 30 hours in term time so 22.5 hours stretched. Anyway, I’m hoping to work more hours than I was before and may be able to get some daytime work as well.

My point about my previous hours worked and pay was that I knew I’d qualify for the funding if I increase my hours.

According to the website, you can apply right up until end of August for a sept start, so if you apply mid August you should be earning enough in the next 3 months as required.

The form for tax free childcare and the funded hours is the same. When i did it I got a response saying I didn’t qualify for tax free childcare as I was receiving UC. Then a separate response confirming I qualified for the 30 hours funded.