15 hours Free Childcare for son when he is age 3

[JC2021]

Hi there,

Applying to a prep school and wanted to know if it is best to accept a general open place and then apply for the 15 hours funding or the other way round? Keen to access what we can of the 15 hrs - although this pre school don't seem too great in terms of covering it all.

The morning session is 8:15-12:30 and out of that we can claim 3 hrs
(we will be doing 3 morning sessions which is the minimum, so accessing 9 hrs of the early years funding in total.)

They now want £250 deposit to secure place - but it hasn't been confirmed in terms of days/hours and us accessing the free hours. Although I have made it clear we would.

In what circumstances wouldn't someone access the free entitlement?

The admin lady mentioned sending us forms to fill in to access the 15hrs.

new to all this!

thank you in advance x

I'm assuming your son has reached the term after his 3rd birthday now? For example if your child is 3 in September you can access funding in January.
You need to go onto your local authority website and apply via there, they will give you a code which you give to the pre school and that allows you to claim the funding. The funding is term time online from what I recall so make sure you check what dates those are as you'll be paying full rate on those weeks that fall out of term time and into holidays.
Some childcare provisions do ask for deposits or just the first month fees in advance it varies. I would apply for the funding first and then get the code and give that to your chosen pre school.

Yes you sign up and then fill in the forms. They then claim it back direct. However there are usually add ons that aren't covered - meals and snacks etc. You usually have to pay a littleiys just heavily subsidised.

My ds goes to a prep school nursery. He goes for 20 hours a week. We claim for them and just have to pay for lunches and an 'optional top up charge of a few pounds an hour'. So it's not totally free but it is very good value indeed and I know they couldn't offer all they do just from claiming the funded hours back.

thanks very much

my son turns 3 in October - so i'll sign up to the nursery and pay the deposit then confirm our place/days/hour utilising the 15 HRS

If he's 3 in October he'll get his 15 hours in January (assuming you're in England).

How far in advance do you apply? Our son will be three at the end of December so will be entitled to 15 hrs from January. Do we apply in September?

@Liverbird77 yes apply in the September term, don’t leave it too late or you’ll miss out until Easter.

@GreenSpace00 thank you so much x

For just the 15 hours for education you do not have to apply online - nursery will apply for you. You only need to apply online if you want / are eligible for the childcare 15 hours (so 30 in total). You do not need a code etc for the 15 universal education hours.

@RicStar thank you. Yes, it's just the 15 hours he'll get.