Childcare hours for £100K+ earners

[Penny1616]

Hi.

My son turns 3 in March. Currently we are able to get up to 30 hours funded for him (we are in England), although we only use 16.5hrs as a grandparent has him one day a week and i have two days off work a week. Our nursery don’t charge for extras (you provide your own food), so our nursery bill is zero.

My partner earns £92k and my part time salary is £35.5k, so a household income of £127.5k. My partner also gets a (variable) bonus and last year sacrificed that to his pension.

We also have a 5 year old daughter and i think i remember that under the old system, where funding kicked in the term after their 3rd birthday, the 30 hours were made up of 15 universal hours and an extra 15 hours for working parents, as long as neither parent earnt over £100k. Is this still the case?
Essentially i am trying to find out if my son will be entitled to 15 hours after he turns three, regardless of whether my partner’s earnings tip over the threshold. Although i know we will loose the tax free childcare of that happens.

Thank you in advance :)

Yes he will. Universal 15 hours still exists for 3 year olds

Yes he will get 15 hours free. He won’t get 30 hours because your household income is apparently too high.

Does that stop if either parent’s earning exceed £100k?

No, universal means everyone gets it. Just from the term after they turn 3 years old. I read the OP and answered accurately.

It’s based on adjusted net income too OP - so if he just tips over the £100k, you can use pension contributions etc to keep under.

Yes that’s fine, don’t forget you get tax free childcare too which can be used for after school clubs, breakfast clubs and holiday clubs for your 5yr old. Just keep your individual salaries below £100k.

Thank you! Good to know the 15 hours are universal. It may well be worth my partner sacrificing his bonus or part of it, in to his pension until my son goes to school at-least.

It's individual incomes not joint.

Also your husband hasnt "sacrificed" his bonus to his pension - he has invested in his pension and benefited from the tax.

You may also have what is called a 'grace period' on your hours, where you are entitled to the 30 hours for the rest of the term (or however your childcare provider calculates it) even though you have technically gone over the threshold. We had this with our child, as the term started before our reconfirmation window opened, so the code had already been submitted before it became invalid.