The entitlement enables the family to receive up to 30 hours of funded childcare a week, to a maximum of 1140 over three claim periods. Providers can offer the entitlement “stretched” where less funded hours are taken over more weeks.
Accessing these entitlements will depend on:
- a child’s age and circumstances
- whether the parent/carer is working (employed, self-employed, or a director)
- their income (and partner’s income if they have one)
- and immigration status
and having a valid HMRC eligibility code in place by the start of the claim period.
[IMPORTANT] Whilst a family may be eligible for the entitlement, to claim, a valid code must be in place AND the child’s date of birth (DOB) must be within the DOB range for the claim period.
The earliest start date for families to claim will be:
| Child is 9 months or has 2nd or 3rd birthday in | Earliest Start Date | 1st Claim Period |
| January, February or March | 1 April | Summer |
| April, May, June, July or August | 1 September | Autumn |
| September, October, November or December | 1 January | Spring |
Please remember:
- The child must be within the DOB range of the claim period and a valid code must be in place to access the entitlement
- A grace period will apply for child whose family no longer meet the criteria unless the family decides to move to another provider
- Code re-confirmation is required every 90 days
- Families will no longer be able to claim the entitlement once their child starts in a stated funded reception class or reaches compulsory school age.