Applications for the first wave of the rollout of the largest ever expansion of free childcare for working parents opened on 2 January 2024.
Eligible working parents of 2-year-olds are now able to register to access 15 hours free childcare per week from April 2024, the first step in the government’s long-term plan to give working families a brighter future. Parents have until 31 March to apply for a code, and the best window to apply is between mid-January and the end of February, in case further information to support the application is needed.
To be eligible for the new offers, parents need to meet the conditions relating to paid work and each parent must be earning between £8,600 up to £100k. Parents not eligible for this offer may be eligible for the disadvantaged 2 year old early education offer and/or the universal credit childcare costs offers.
The government has updated the eligibility checker on Childcare Choices to allow parents to access personalised information on their eligibility for government-funded childcare schemes. The website allows parents to also sign up for regular updates.
Richard Fuller MP said;
From April, eligible working parents of 2-year-olds will be able to access 15 hours of government-funded childcare a week, making sure parents no longer have to choose between a career and a family, and doubling down on this government’s commitment to getting more people into work and growing the economy.
To deliver this, the government is also pushing ahead with increased funding rates across the country and up to £1,200 for new childminders, knocking down barriers to recruiting and retaining the talented staff that provide such wonderful care for our children.
As part of the largest investment in childcare in England’s history, further increases to government funding rates for childcare are also confirmed. In 2024-25 alone, the government is investing over £400 million to deliver a significant uplift to local authority hourly rates, to ensure enough places are available wherever they’re needed around the country.
National average hourly rates paid by the government will be £11.22 for under 2s, £8.28 for 2-year-olds, and £5.88 for 3 and 4-year-olds from April. These rates reflect the increase in the National Living Wage from April 2024, which makes up a significant proportion of providers’ costs.
From Thursday 30th November, funding was also available for new childminders who joined the profession or who completed their registration on or after 15th March 2023, or those re-registering at least 12 months after the cancellation of a previous registration. There will be £600 available for those who choose to register with Ofsted and £1,200 for those who choose to register with a childminder agency. This is designed to support thousands of new childminders to enter the sector and create new, quality, childcare settings across the country to further increase choice and flexibility for families.
The government is also offering ongoing support for the over 2 million parents on Universal Credit, many of whom could now also be eligible for up to £951 a month if they have one child and £1,630 if they have 2 or more children, to help cover the costs of their childcare bills – this marks a 47% boost in support.
By September 2025, most working families with children under the age of 5 will be entitled to 30 hours of childcare support.
The changes are being introduced gradually, over three phases, to make sure that providers can meet the needs of more families. This means that:
From April 2024, eligible working parents of 2-year-olds will be able to access 15 hours childcare support. Applications are now open.
From September 2024, 15 hours childcare support will be extended to eligible working parents of children from the age of 9 months to 3-year-olds.
From September 2025, eligible working parents of children under the age of 5 will be entitled to 30 hours of childcare a week.
