Free childcare places- how to claim?

[Minkus]

DS has just turned three and so I gather he is entitled to a certain number of nursery hours paid for by the local council/central government.

Can anyone tell me please how I go about claiming these? I've had a look on the surestart website and although I now know that he was entitled to them as of 1st Jan (he was 3 at the start of Dec) I couldn't find any advice on how to actually claim them!

Any advice gratefully received.

(Also posted this on pre-school board, thought I might get better viewing here!)

You contact the nursery you want him to go to (or an accredited childminder) & they sort it out

I had to sort out dd's nursery place not long after she turned 2 (and that was for her to start at the age of 3!!). I visited the nursery I wanted her to go to and got an application from them and had to fill it in with my top 3 choices of nursery (luckily she got into the one of my choice). She turned 3 in the November and started nursery in the January but we knew she had her place there from April. Maybe different areas/councils do it differently (I am in North Lanarkshire in Scotland)

Try looking on your local council website for info.