Understanding Funded Hours, Who’s Eligible and How to Claim Them

With a lot in the news lately surrounding the topic, understanding funded hours, tax free childcare, and what you are entitled to can be rather confusing. It is important that parents look into what is available to them and how to claim the funding they are entitled to, as it can help them save a significant sum of money on nursery fees.


At Cherubs Nurseries, we only offer the nursery funding as a stretched offer, meaning your child would attend slightly less than their allocated funding each week, but they would attend these hours for 51 weeks of the year as opposed to 38 weeks, which is term-time. For parents new to nursery funding for the Summer term, the funding starts from 1st May at Cherubs Nurseries to ensure there are enough hours for that term to stretch through the summer holidays.  

Current Entitlements

• 15 hours for 2 year olds of parent’s receiving some sort of financial support/benefits
  Funding hours may be available to parents of two year olds who receive some form of financial support, such as Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance, Universal Credits, Child Tax Credits or Working Tax Credits.
  You can check your eligibility on the GOV Childcare Choices website or by contacting your local council. You would claim this the term after your child’s 2nd birthday; once you have it, it should not be taken away from you, even if your financial circumstances were to change.  The funding can be claimed at any point in the term.

• 15 hours for all 3 and 4 year olds
  This type of funding is available to all parents for the term after their child’s 3rd birthday. This is easy to claim, as all you have to do is complete a Parent Declaration Form to confirm the number of hours you wish to claim. 

Your 15 hours can be split between two different childcare providers if you wish.  

• 30 hours for 3 and 4 year olds of working parents
  These 30 hours of funded childcare are allocated over 38 weeks of the year (Term Time). To be eligible for this funding, each parent must earn at least £120 a week and no more than £100,000 a year. You can check your eligibility on the GOV Childcare Choices website.
  Successful applicants will receive a code, which is passed on to the childcare provider of your choice. The funding will then start in the following term. These 30 hours can be split between three different childcare providers. 
  

New Entitlements

• 15 hours for 9 month olds of working parents (increasing to 30 hours in September 2025)
  This funding is similar to the one above, coming into place this year. Working parents of 9 months old will be entitled to 15 hours of funding from September 2024, increasing to 30 hours in September 2025. The eligibility criteria for this nursery funding is the same as the 15 hours for 2 year olds of working parents – each parent must earn at least £120 a week and no more than £100,000 a year.

• 15 hours for 2 year olds of working parents (increasing to 30 hours in September 2025)
  Starting in April 2024 (starting 1st May 2024 at Cherubs Nurseries), the existing childcare support will be expanded, offering working parents of two year olds 15 hours a week (for 38 weeks of the year) to be used across the 51 weeks. To be eligible for this nursery funding, each parent must earn at least £120 a week and no more than £100,000 a year.

Resources
Please see the link to Nottinghamshire’s Parent Declaration Form below ⬇️
https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/media/122967/parentdeclarationform.pdf

Please see the link to Derbyshire’s Parent Declaration Form below ⬇️
https://schoolsnet.derbyshire.gov.uk/site-elements/documents/teaching-learning-and-school-governance/early-years-quality-team/fe1-form.pdf

To check your eligibility, please visit the Childcare Choices website below ⬇️
https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/

Funding at Cherubs Nurseries ⬇️
https://cherubsnurseries.co.uk/funded-hours/