Qualifying for funded childcare hours

[FTM024]

Hi,
Im currently on maternity leave and will be taking the last 3 months maternity leave as unpaid.
My daughter is due to start nursery in September (she will be 1 year old) and I was hoping to qualify for the funded hours.
I’ve just read this and am worried I won’t qualify

Your income over the next 3 months you and your partner (if you have one) must each expect to earn at least:
£2380 before tax if you’re aged 21 or over (equivalent to £183 per week)

because I’m taking the last 3 months as unpaid leave I won’t be earning this until I return to work at the end of August. Am I right in thinking I won’t qualify for the funding until the following term (January)

thank you for any help x

Well if you're back to work in August then you won't be unpaid any more will you? You'll be paid for September, October and November won't you?

I think you’re ok, you don’t need to earn that money until the term which starts in September. So you have September-December to earn that much. The 4 months before that are irrelevant as you’re not claiming the funding.

i went back to work in mid February and needed to earn that much by end of March to qualify, which I don’t think I will (agency work and there hasn’t been as much as I hoped/expected). No one has been able to give me a straight answer about what happens if you claim the hours and then don’t manage to earn that much. HMRC said I may be prosecuted for giving false information 🙄 nursery said there’s a ‘grace period’ so as long as i meet the criteria in the following quarter then that’s ok, someone else told me it’s averaged across the year so missing it in one quarter is not an issue…it’s amazing how difficult it is to get a straight answer on this. It must happen all the time if people lose their job or something??

You qualify during parental leave paid or not

if you’re back bu 30 September you qualify from 1 September - https://www.gov.uk/check-eligible-free-childcare-if-youre-working#:~:text=Welsh%20(Cymraeg).-,Your%20child's%20age%20and%20circumstances,per%20week%20of%20free%20childcar

Thank you for your replies!
So does it mean the 3 months after you claim the funding? I panicked and thought it meant before the funding which would have been my unpaid part of mat leave.
@modgepodgeit really is a nightmare making sense of it all. I hope it all works out for you!!

Make sure you apply for and receive your code before the 31st August.

It asks for your income over the next 3 months, not the last 3 months.

When is your Dc 1? Is it before September or during September?

Yes it says the 'next 3 months' in the piece you quoted yourself.