Help with childcare costs

Contents

• Overview - Help with childcare costs
  
• Funding for working parents of 9 months to 4-year-olds
• Funding for all 3 and 4-year-olds
• Funding for 2-year-olds if you receive certain benefits
• Eligibility for 2-year-old immigration and asylum seekers

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Funding for working parents of 9 months to 4-year-olds

Working parents of children aged 9 months upwards who meet the criteria below can access up to 30 funded hours of early education. 

Depending on the childcare provider, these hours can be used over 38 weeks during term time, or up to 52 weeks if fewer hours are accessed each week.

The funding is not intended to cover the costs of meals, nappies or additional activities, such as trips. Providers may charge a fee for these additions if they are required.

Eligible working parents

Funded hours will be available 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 adjusted net 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

Eligibility can be checked on the Best Start in Life parent hub website.

When your child can start funded childcare

Children become eligible for funded childcare from the term after they reach the qualifying age. For example, if your child turns 9 months old during the Autumn term, they can start funded childcare from the Spring term. 

To access funded childcare at the start of a term, your eligibility code must be valid before the beginning of that term.

When can the entitlements be used

Eligible working families can apply for 30 funded hours to use from the term after their child turns 9 months until they reach school age.

How to apply

Applications must be made via the Best Start in Life parent hub website.

Parents will need the following information before starting the application:

• National insurance number (or unique taxpayer reference if self-employed)
• the date you started or are due to start work
• details of any government support or benefits you receive
• the UK birth certificate reference number (if you have one) for your child

There is a separate application process for foster carers.

When to apply

Children can take up their early education hours from the term after all the eligibility criteria has been met. These terms begin on 1 January, 1 April and 1 September.

Parents need to apply via Best Start in Life parent hub before the deadline. The deadline is the day before the new term begins, however, parents are encouraged to apply as soon as possible, and at least 6 weeks before the deadline.

Best Start in Life deadlines:

If parents do not apply by the deadline, they will not be able to take up their entitlements in that term.

Parents on parental leave applying for a working family eligibility code

Parents applying for childcare for an older child who is not the reason for their parental leave can continue to apply as before regardless of their return-to-work date.

Parents on parental leave for example, maternity leave who are applying for an eligibility code for the child who is the reason for the leave, or for parents starting a new job, the date parents return to work will affect when the working family entitlements can be accessed.

What happens next

Once eligibility is confirmed parents are given an 11 digit 'eligibility code'. You can find this in your gov.uk childcare service account and in your 'secure messages'.

You will need to take your eligibility code, National Insurance number and child's date of birth to your chosen childcare provider. They will ask you to complete and sign a 'Parental Declaration Form' to give them consent to check and confirm your eligibility through Cheshire East’s Establishment Portal.

You do not need to apply through Best Start in Life parent hub if you only want to use the 15 hours of funding for all 3 and 4-year-olds or want to apply for funding for 2 year olds if you receive certain benefits

Reconfirming your eligibility for the working parents’ entitlement

You will need to reconfirm your eligibility every three months to continue claiming the funded hours. 

Best Start in Life normally sends reminder emails before your reconfirmation deadline. If you do not receive a reminder, check your junk or spam folder and log in to your Childcare Service account to check your renewal date.

It is your responsibility to reconfirm your eligibility before the deadline, even if you do not receive a reminder.

If you miss your reconfirmation window, your eligibility will lapse and your child may lose their funding. However, if they claimed funded hours with their current provider in the previous term, they may continue to receive funding until the end of their grace period.

If you no longer meet the eligibility criteria

If your eligibility code becomes invalid because you no longer meet the criteria, or you did not reconfirm your details on time, your child may continue to receive funded childcare during a grace period.

A grace period gives families time to regain eligibility without funding ending immediately.

If the grace period expires and you have not become eligible again, funded childcare will stop from the start of the next term.

If you are unsure whether your code is still valid, log in to your Childcare Service account to check its status.

Changing childcare provider 

Funded childcare cannot usually be transferred to a new provider during a term.

Transfers are only approved in exceptional circumstances, for example:

• a change in employment
• family illness
• moving house
• a childcare provider being unable to offer the funded hours required

If you need to change provider during a term, speak to your childcare provider or contact the Council for advice.

If your eligibility code is no longer valid and you are in a grace period, funded childcare can usually continue only with your child's current provider.

If you move to a new provider during your grace period, or without first contacting the Council for advice, you may need to pay for childcare until the start of the next term.

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