30 Hour Free Entitlement Funding

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All three and four year olds living in England are entitled to 570 hours of free early years education a year. This is usually offered as 15 hours a week for up to 38 weeks a year, however at Little Munchkins we can offer this stretched over 51 weeks of the year, this is a universal entitlement. It can be claimed at Little Munchkins the term after your child’s third birthday.

However, since September 2017 working families who meet the eligibility criteria can also claim an additional 15 hours of funded childcare a week. This means that eligible children will be able to receive up to 1140 hours of funded childcare a year. This change was introduced as part of the Childcare Act 2016.

Child born between:                                                     Can receive the funded hours from:
1 September 2014 to 31 December 2014                January 2018 (Spring)
1 January 2015 to 31 March 2015                            April 2018 (Summer)
1 April 2015 to 31 August 2015                               September 2018 (Autumn)

Who will be eligible to receive the extended entitlement?

The extra funded hours will be made available to families where both parents (or the sole parent in a lone parent family):

• are working and earn on average a weekly minimum amount equivalent to working 16 hours at either National Minimum Wage (NMW) or National Living Wage (NLW)
• have an income of less than £100,000 each per year
• live in England (parents who are non-EEA nationals must have recourse to public funds to qualify)

You may still be eligible to apply if you or your partner:

• are taking paid time off work, such as maternity leave, paternity leave or sick leave
• are temporarily away from England for a period of up to 6 months, such as on military duty

You can also apply if either you or your partner are employed or self-employed and one of you gets one or more of the following benefits:

• contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance
• Carer's Allowance
• Incapacity Benefit or long-term Incapacity Benefit
• Severe Disablement Allowance
• National Insurance credits because of incapacity or limited capability for work
• you've been assessed as having limited capability for work for Universal Credit purposes

How can I check if I am eligible?

You can check your eligibility for the 30 hours through the Childcare Choices website or by using the Childcare Calculator. These will also show if you can get any additional government help with childcare costs.

If you meet the eligibility criteria for the additional hours you should also qualify for Tax Free Childcare which can be used to help pay for any additional childcare costs. You can apply for this and the 30 hours at the same time through the digital childcare service.

For any further information please ask a member of the management team.