Funding for 3 year olds after redundancy

[jobsagudden]

Hi

I wondered if anyone could shed any light on this for me?

I was made redundant in September due to covid and have been furloughed since March.

DD1 & 2 are both in nursery part time (2 days a week) and with DM 1 day a week.

DD1 qualified for the 30 free hours funding in April so we have been receiving it since then DD2 is only 20.

Stupidly I'd signed into the government portal with my work email address which was restricted back in March when I was put on furlough so I've not received any emails from the government regarding the funding. I didn't know about the reconfirmation so haven't been doing it and there have been no issues with nursery, I completely know this is an oversight on my part and I am an idiot for not knowing the full conditions of the funding.

Anyway, we received an email from nursery last night saying that DD1's childcare funding has an alert next to it so I logged into the childcare fund (this is when I realised I had used my work email). I tried to reconfirm and I am no longer eligible.

I've had no luck on the job front and I'm in the early stages of setting up a small business which is not yet earning the £139 per week required for me to be eligible for the funding.

Has anyone else been in the situation? It seems strange that me and DP could both be earning £99,999 each a year and be eligible for the funding but because I've lost my job due to covid and not earning a proper wage yet?

Can anyone shed any light on this for me? I know I'm an idiot for not checking the conditions of the funding first!

Thanks for reading this, I know it's not the most interesting of posts but I'm so bloody stressed out now as I have no idea how we will afford to keep both DD's in nursery.

P.s sorry for awful grammar and should say DD2 is 20 months, not 20.

Yes you’re only eligible for 30 hours funding if you both work over a certain amount of hours each week. It’s to allow people to work as it’s assumed if you’re not working then you don’t need the childcare. Where I am everyone is entitled to 10 hours so you may be able to get that.

You should get 15 hours term tune for your 3 year old as that’s universal. The top up to 15 is contingent on the adults in the household meeting the qualifying criteria - so bro g in work.

If one of you is not in work, I’m afraid you won’t qualify and will be required to pay for any hours used since you were no longer eligible.

Thanks for your reply @FelicityBob, I am working I'm (very recently) self employed and working 3 long days but don't yet have any proof of earnings as first month has been setting everything up.

She’ll keep the universal 15 hours but if you’re not working she won’t get the additional 15 hours. This is because you don’t need the childcare and makes total sense.

Sorry, that should read ‘the top up to 30

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat I am working I've set up my own business.

@jobsagudden

Thanks for your reply *@FelicityBob*, I am working I'm (very recently) self employed and working 3 long days but don't yet have any proof of earnings as first month has been setting everything up.

Unless you have the books /wages to back it up, you won’t qualify for the additional hours.

Ok yes but as you’ve said, it doesn’t meet the requirements to get eligibility for the additional 15 hours.

@Marmite27 thanks for your reply, that's what I find so frustrating as won't be able to continue with business if we can't keep DD's in nursery.

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat yes, because I've just started the business but hopefully will in the next couple of months, it just seems ridiculous to me that I'll now have to give up potential career to take children out of nursery.

You would have needed to give your nursery an eligibility code each term, if you haven't then you will only be able to claim 15hrs.

There may be differing criteria for self employed but I don't know the details for this. There may be some way you can prove you are working over 30hrs a week but earning less than min wage.

It's actually quite an unfair system because it is based on someone earning the equivalent of min wage at 30hrs a week. However you could be an extremely high earner and get that in a day but still be able to get 30hrs childcare. It's a system that's actually against the low earners who need childcare the most to be able to earn more.

If you and partner aren't in work or self employment isnt earning over a certain amount when your younger child reaches 2yo you will be able to apply for 2yo funding as this is based on a household income under a certain amount. You'd need to check the exact amounts against your circumstances.

From gov.uk website: This earnings limit does not apply if you’re self-employed and started your business less than 12 months ago. So I think you're still eligible?

We were able to claim while DH was setting up his own business and didn't meet the minimum earnings. He just had to self-certify in some way that he was self employed and started his business in the last 12 months - as subjecttoavailability said.

@Tumbleweed101 thank you so much for replying, DH works full time, think I just needed some reassurance that the system was a bit crazy! X

@subjecttoavailability thank you so much for this! Really appreciate it x

@Justajot thanks so much for this, this is brilliant news! Really appreciate you posting!

@jobsagudden Make sure you reapply now, if you haven't already.
You must have your code by the end of December for the funding to be paid in January.