30 hours free childcare

[user1465146157]

Hello
Can anyone please shed light on the 30 hours free childcare you get when your LO is 3 years old?

Ours is 3 in March 2020, so just wondering how far ahead we have to apply?

Who do we apply to?
How do we know we are eligible?
do we notify the nursery or will they tell us about it?

Thank you in advance

Also - is it 30 hours a week? or Month
thanks

Remember that the 30 hours free only applies during school term time - do you need child care all year around or does term time work for you?

Your local council should have a list of nurseries. There will be a few that are literally only open for 30 hours a week (usually 9am to 3pm) term time only, are run on an absolute shoestring and you can genuinely get your 30 hours free. A lot more of them will accept the 30 hour vouchers but actually run a much more extended service - longer hours, better facilities. They technically aren't allowed to charge a "top up" fee to people using the vouchers but they lose money on every child who just uses the vouchers so tend to find ways to structure the fees so that you need to pay something to get the combination of service that you need. Don't resent them for that - if they didn't they would go bankrupt. If you need to just have the free hours use one of the basic option ones.

www.gov.uk/30-hours-free-childcare

This link should give you all the answers.

Apply in March for Summer term. It’s 22 hours over a year.

22 hours a week over a year I meant to say.

It doesn't necessarily only apply in school term time - some nurseries including ours allow you to 'stretch' the hours over 52 weeks of the year. So it is worth asking if a nursery will do this if it would benefit you.

It’s 30 hours a week for 38 weeks a year. Or some nursery’s will stretch it over 52 weeks giving you 22 hours a week.

You'll get it the term after they turn 3 my son was born in February and we started getting it when they returned to nursery after Easter. You can do it all online I think it's 2-3 months before and you have to confirm details every few months. Our nursery was great and would remind parents to apply about a month before the new term. You get a code from the government website and fill in a form at nursery. Some nursery's allow you to spread the hours over the whole year so instead of 30 hours a week term time only you can have 25 hours a week all year around.