Free childcare

[Ishkabibbl]

Gosh I must be stupid but I really don’t understand the free hours from the government. I’m so confused. My daughter will be 2 in September. If she goes to nursery one day a week do I need to pay anything towards it or will it be completely free?

daughter doesn’t go to nursery yet. I’m not eligible for other benefit)

govenrment website says (but doesn’t mention 2-3 year olds)

If your child is 9 months to 2 years oldChildren aged 9 months to 2 years old currently get 15 hours of free childcare per week for 38 weeks of the year. From September 2025 this will increase to 30 hours per week.
If your child is 3 to 4 years oldYou can get 30 hours per week of free childcare for 38 weeks of the year

2 year olds are currently getting 15hrs free per week. But this is dependent on the nurserys fee structure. Some will limit how you use them or charge extra fees for food. Its best to look at what nurserys you may use and ask about their fees.

Think it’s for working parents so you should be eligible if you work

Thank you both

You can also use the hours for a childminder if there are any local to you.

Round here the childminder is the only one who offers the hours without extra charges.

All of the nurseries charge top up fees (even though they aren't technically supposed to).

To deal with the new guidance on top-up fees one is only offering free hours 10am-3pm Monday to Friday from September. Then they offer chargeable extra hours if you need an extended day - which most do.

You might not get one whole free day, so it’s best to check with the nursery. You need to get your funding code from childcare choices and that will confirm if you are eligible.

In my experience nurseries have a minimum number of days as 2 a week, this has been before the free hours for babies, and it's because it's difficult for a child to settle with one day a week.

From September 2025 children of working parents from 9 months upwards will be entitled to 30 hours of funded childcare per week

My niece only did 1 days per week, but she wasn't allowed to get a day free. They pro-rated it. The nursery called how many hours per session/day across multiple a week, but, each handles it in the own way.

My son FT, we had a fixed price and just got the hours deducted.

So it's not as simple as you get hours, you use hours. It's not you, it is complicated!

One day isn't good for the children to settle a minimum of two or three is better. Also it will be difficult to get a place. There is a struggle for places as they gave free hours but no more nurseries are built to accommodate it. An example my old work had 88 children am and 88 children pm but with so many moving up from other rooms we literally had 3 spaces available for the whole year. Private might be an option
.

If your child went to nursery right now she would get 15 hours. From September she will get 30 hours.
You need to remember this is term time only, so 15 hours may only work out as about 10.5 hours a week if you need full year round. That should just about cover one day unless your nursery charges for extras. 30 hours works out around 21 hours for full year round.
It all depends on how many hours a full day is at the nursery, and whether they charge for extras. You should be told that when you go for visits.

i believe you need to work more than 16 hours a week to get this.

My 2 year old currently gets 15 hours free however his nursery charge supplement fee of £2.50 for have a day and £5 for full day this is for food. he uses more than the 15 hours so we have to pay the extra on top.

also it is only for 38 weeks a year so we opt to pay full price in half terms so we get the full 15 hours per week.

It’s currently 15 hours a week term time only so around 10 hours a week spread across the whole year. In September it will be 30 or roughly 20 spread out.
Every nursery in my area charge a consumables fee for funded days (meals and drinks basically) this ranges from £4-7 a day depending on the nursery.
You also get tax free childcare where you pay 80% and government tops up the rest.

I agree with some of the previous posters, I wouldn’t put my child in only one day a week but it depends on the child I guess. It can be harder for them to settle with such a big gap between days they attend. Mine went two days from 11 months old and took ages to settle but got better once she moved to three days a week.

Its so confusing isn't it. My son is 17 mo ths and gets 15 hours which spread over the year works out at 11 hours funded a week. This will up to 30 hours in September which spread is 22 hours

He currently goes three times a week 8 till 4. The first 11 hours are charged at 2.50 an hour and then the remaining at 8.50.

My eldest son went to a different nursery before school and they used to split the year in to three so you would get three invoices a year. The first invoice was January to March so they work out how many school holidays fall within that period and charge you for the rest. April to August was much more expensive

You’re not stupid. The wording for the funded (not free) hours is deliberately (imo) hard to understand. Different local authorities have different takes on the rules too.

To answer your question, if you don’t want to pay anything, there should be a way for you to access your funded hours without paying a top up. However, this is very likely to impact the service you receive. It might be that funded hours are limited to a set 3 hours a day (schools settings for example), or core hours, which means before and after these hours are chargeable. It could that snacks, experiences, and resources are charged and without paying a top up, you would have to provide your own etc. Nurseries are struggling and the basic funding rates rarely cover the costs of the care received.

I assume you’ll be accessing the working funding rather than the Early Learning Program with you saying you don’t receive other benefits. So from Sept, you’ll be eligible for 30 hours instead of 15 however, please be mindful that settings do not have to accept the 30 hours working funding - even if you already attend there for 15. My setting will not be accepting 30 hour children as our structure doesn’t support children staying for lunch (morning and afternoon sessions). If parents wish to access the 30 hours, they’ll need to split funding and take the additional hours at a different setting.

It’s worth doing your research and finding a nursery or childminder that meets your needs and can accept the funding in a way that suits you.

Sorry, haven't read all the replies so it might be answered.

yes - if you reach the criteria she will be entitled to it (ie dates of employment and salary)

no - it won't be completely free, but something will
be knocked of the price for sure. Even if she's doing 1 day, ie 10 hours and she's entitled to 30 hours she won't get it free - the 30 hours will sort of be split pro rata. AND some nurseries will charge for nappies and meals AND some nurseries might have a minimum of 1.5 or 2 days a week.

They won't let you enroll then for one day a week. There is usually at least a 2 full days per week minimum.

Thank you everyone for such detailed responses and for lots of points I hadn’t considered. It’s been really helpful.

The maximum funding per day is ten hours so if you need care longer than that part won’t be funded.

Meals and consumables usually attract an extra charge on funded sessions.

You are most likely to be able to use your free funded entitlement with limited extra cost if you stick with 9-12, 9-3 or 1-4 sessions as these are core sessions. Lunch time will often mean a charge for meals/supervision. Wrap around care will likely have fees.

Hello.
I need help I have my son will be 2 years old on July and I'm looking for him free nursery. I'm single mother
How can I get nursery around me HA7 1BG

Hi, I am eligible for Child care gov funding and my child is nearly 2 years old. They go to Nursery 25 hours a week, 2 and half days but nursery still charge me for 5 hours per week (plus consumables) despite this being under the eligible 30 hours free child care per week. When questioned they say they can only claim for 20 or 30 hours so we are charged for the half day/week. This seems ridiculous when not using all of the hours meaning our bill is still high each month. Can anybody comment if this is correct please.

All nurseries offer funding differently.
Are you term time or all year round?
They should be able to give you clear information on what their charges are and what hours they are claiming for you.

If your funding is stretched through the year you will get around 22 hours per week. If it is term time only you will get 30 hours a week.

All nurseries will apply funding in different ways in regards to which hours are or aren't funded. So in reality you'll get two full days of funding if your nursery allow the max 10 hours per day over the whole year. You may have to pay meals and consumables on top of this though.

Our parents pay £10 for their fully funded 10 hour day.