Free Funded Hours
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Childcare Choices
The Childcare Choices website will guide you through your options to help you decide on the schemes that are that are best for your family this includes the Working Families Entitlement Funding and Tax-Free Childcare.
Tax Free Childcare Accounts
Working parents of children aged under 12 can use Tax-Free Childcare, through the childcare service account, to pay for registered childcare. The Government top-up the money that parents pay into the account i.e. for every £8 parents pay in, the Government will add an additional £2. Parents can receive £2,000 per child per year, or £4,000 if disabled.
Please visit www.childcarechoices.gov.uk to find out more about eligibility and the scheme. We advise parents to ensure they have read all of the advice in relation to what is best for them and whether they should move from an existing scheme as your choice may result in changes to your eligibility for other benefits or childcare costs support.
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What’s the Government Plan
The Government announced 30 hours funding entitlement to be in place for working families by September 2025. Below is a copy of their delivery plan.
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Child’s Age - 2
Offering - 15 hours
Eligibility - Families receiving Government support
From When - Now
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Child’s Age - 3/4
Offering - 15 hours
Eligibility - All parents
From When - Now
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Child’s Age - 3/4
Offering - 30 hours
Eligibility - Working families
From When - Now
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Child’s Age - 2
Offering - 15 hours
Eligibility - Working families
From When - Now
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Child’s Age - 9/23 months
Offering - 15 hours
Eligibility - Working families
From When - Now
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Child’s Age - 9 months +
Offering - 30 hours
Eligibility - Working families
From When - September 2025
The eligibility criteria for Working Parents are available on the Government website. It is parent’s responsibility to check their eligibility through HMRC and they must provide an eligibility code to the setting. This code will then need renewing every 3 months. These codes apply to the term after your child reaches the correct age, the deadline to receive your code for the following term is 31st December 31st March and 31st August. We encourage all families looking to take up funded spaces to enquire as soon as possible as specific sessions may fill up faster than anticipated.
Funding Types
Childcare Funding Options
Covering the cost of childcare isn’t always easy, especially in the current financial climate. The UK government offers a range of funded childcare schemes to help lighten the financial load. Below are the available options to see what childcare funding can help you.
Universal Funded Childcare
All parents of 3- and 4-year-olds are entitled to the 15 hours funding from the term after your child’s 3rd birthday and until they start school. Many families will also be eligible for extended funding for up to 30hrs per week term only.
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Supported Two-Year-Old Funding
Some parents will be able to apply for 15 hours funding for 2-year-olds.
If you are in receipt of certain benefits such as Income Support or Universal Credit, or your child has Disability Living Allowance or an education, health and care (EHC) plan, you may be able to get 15 funded hours for your child. Please visit local council website or childcare choices: www.childcarechoice.gov.uk
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Working Families Funding
Working Families for children aged 9 months plus whose parents meet the eligibility criteria can claim 15 hours during term time only, increasing to 30 hours from September 2025.
Each parent must be working and earning at least the equivalent of 16 hours a week at the national living or minimum wage, but less than £100,000 a year. If you are a couple, then this applies to each of you- if one of you doesn’t work, or one of you earns over £1000,000, you won’t be eligible.
From September 2025 there are plans to extend the funding up to 30 hours per week, term time only for all families of children aged 9 months and above who are eligible.
If your child attends all year round, we will claim the maximum amount you are eligible for to help cover costs in the school holidays. This is the stretched funding option and we will deliver the funding over the full years attendance.
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Early Year Pupil Premium (EYPP)
The Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) is an additional sum of money paid to childcare providers for children of families in receipt of certain benefits. This funding will be used to enhance the quality of their early years’ experience by improving the teaching and learning facilities and resources, with the aim of impacting positively on your child’s progress and development.
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How to apply
You need to apply for working families entitlement at www.childcarechoices.gov.uk Applying for working families funding childcare usually takes people around 20 minutes. You’ll need your National Insurance number (or your Unique Taxpayer Reference if you’re self-employed). If you are a couple, you will need this information for each of you.
If your application is successful, you’ll receive a code. Once you receive this code, please send it to your chosen setting and they will confirm that the code is for the current term using the local authority portal. Please note that if you get tax free childcare, they may send you a code automatically the term before you get funding.
While the government funding is a great help towards childcare fees, it only covers a limited number of hours and doesn’t pay for all the Essentials and Extras that make Tigers such a special place. To help us give your child the best start in life, we’ll ask you to contribute towards the costs along with any unfunded sessions.
Reminder
If you receive the 15hrs Universal Funding (3-4yr olds), you do not need to apply for a code. For further information go to the childcare choices’ website.
Don’t forget
Every three months you will need to sign into your HMRC childcare account to reconfirm your working family eligibility code. Failure to do this may mean that you miss out on a term of funding so please don’t miss your reconfirmation date.