30 hours free childcare and on maternity

[Laura1990111]

Hi all,
so my son attends a nursery (school setting) and have applied for the 30 hours free childcare to start in September. I have just gone on maternity (my son asked to go to school more! As he loves it so much so I thought why not). I was just wondering how maternity affects the 30 hours free childcare?

Also, I doubt I’d be able to take very long off for maternity due to how bad the pay would be. I don’t think we’d survive. But if I were to have the full year off, would we still qualify for 30 free hours even during the months that I wouldn’t get any maternity pay/SMP?

thanks all

Yes they don't take your earnings into account when you're on mat leave, you just say on the re confirmation you are on maternity leave for another child and you are still eligible (I'm on mat leave at the moment and have done this for child 1).

You can still have the 30 hours and tax free element while on maternity leave.

This is the question they ask:

Will you earn at least £183.04 a week, before tax, for the next 3 months?

It doesn't matter if you don't expect to earn this amount in any weeks you're on maternity, paternity or adoption leave, Carer's Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, Incapacity Benefit or Severe Disablement Allowance. If you expect to be on these for the next three months select no and continue with your application.

He’s in school nursery and it’s funded with 15 hours free childcare or if you want them to go full time you can pay for the morning or afternoon session or apply for 30 hours free childcare. It’s the same at my school, I’m a teacher.
just the first time I’m using it personally and I don’t really understand it.

I don't understand this. My ds attends a school nursery and will be getting the 30 hours and I'll pay the difference with tax free childcare .

Op mat leave doesn't stop your entitlement

I have the same question OP, mine should also get the 30 free hours in Sept but I've been on mat leave since April and from Aug I will only be getting SMP. It doesn't seem clear no matter how many sites I read besides the gov website.

I can't see how being on mat leave means we can't get the 30 hours, like there is literally no reason that should/would be the case and it's maternity discrimination, but then again a lot of childcare stuff doesn't seem to make sense.

Yes exactly its so confusing. Some people say yes and some people say no on other forums as well which got me really confused.
I can’t see why it would affect it as it’s not like we’re not working at all. We are going back to work, so they’ll get their money back in taxes!

You definitely can. I've been doing this for the last year (SMP and no pay at all for past 2 months) and on my last post I copied and pasted from the gov.uk form where they say it's fine. I answered no to the earnings question but got my code, because I also ticked that I'm on maternity leave.

That’s how they can carry on running I guess. I have to pay for lunch times as well, for the extra staff. Free hours don’t cover that. It’s £3.75 a day and I have to give him a packed lunch.
Many schools in my area do this.
They all run for 15 free hours but if you want extra you have to pay or use the 30 free hours.

You do get 30 hours on mat leave. I did.

And school nurseries can and do charge over and above the free entitlement. I’m now only eligible for 15 hours which equates to half days only in termtime, but will be paying to top up my DC to full time hours. Even the 30 hours kids also have to pay to cover the lunchtime sessions as a full day = 37hrs/week.

Can I just check that we can still get 30 free hours when on Maternity leave and no pay (last 3 months) when on no other benefit too? Worried as soon won’t have any pay at all and not sure what to do!

Yes you do.

Just in case someone else is looking for this info, the answer seems to be 'yes' and this is a good article to read:
workingfamilies.org.uk/articles/free-childcare-for-children-aged-9-months-to-4-years-old/

Hi, I am currently on maternity leave and need advice. If my son is starting nursery 3rd February 26 , do I need to be back in work before the end of January to be eligible for the 30 free hours childcare funding? Or could I go back to work in February as planned and still be eligible?

thank you