Funded childcare hours in England: 15 and 30 hours from 9 months, explained

In England, eligible working parents can get 30 hours of funded childcare a week from the term after their child turns 9 months until the child starts school. Every 3 and 4 year old also gets 15 hours from the term after their third birthday, whatever their parents earn, and some 2 year olds get 15 hours if their family gets extra support. Funded hours start on 1 January, 1 April or 1 September, and for the working parents' hours you must apply by 31 December, 31 March or 31 August. The next deadline is 31 December 2026, for hours from January 2027.

The hours are funded, but the rest of the nursery bill is not. Nurseries can charge for meals, nappies and extra hours, as long as those charges are optional. This guide explains who qualifies, when your child's hours start, how to apply and keep your code, and what a nursery can and cannot charge. The rules come from GOV.UK and the Department for Education's statutory guidance for councils, current in September 2026.

The three funded childcare offers

The offers can add up, but never to more than 30 hours a week. For a 3 or 4 year old of working parents, the 30 hours are the universal 15 hours plus 15 working parents' hours. A working family whose 2 year old also qualifies for Early Learning for 2 year olds gets 15 hours from each scheme, and should apply to the council for the 2 year old offer first. Under the statutory guidance, a 2 year old who starts that place keeps it until the universal 15 hours begin at 3, even if the family's circumstances change.

Funded hours stop when your child starts in Reception, or at compulsory school age if that comes later. Our guide to when your child starts school explains those dates.

Who qualifies for 30 hours

Eligibility for the working parents' hours is checked by HMRC, parent by parent. If you have a partner who lives with you, you must both meet the rules.

The earnings floor

You and your partner must each expect to earn at least this much, before tax, over the 3 months after you apply. According to GOV.UK, this is the minimum wage for 16 hours a week, so the figures change when the minimum wage does.

A few rules help people with uneven income:

• Irregular pay or self-employment. If you do not get paid regularly, or you are self-employed and a slow quarter would take you below the floor, you can use an average of what you expect to earn over the tax year. For someone aged 21 or over, that is £10,574.72 a year.
• New businesses. If you started self-employment less than 12 months ago, you can earn less and still qualify.
• More than one job. You can add up all your earnings from employment and self-employment.
• What does not count. Dividends, interest, property income and pension payments do not count towards the floor.

The £100,000 limit

You cannot get the working parents' hours if you or your partner expect your adjusted net income to be over £100,000 in the current tax year, including any foreign income. The limit applies to each parent separately, not to the household. HMRC defines adjusted net income as total taxable income less certain reliefs, such as pension contributions and Gift Aid donations, so your salary alone may not settle it.

Leave, sickness and partners who are not working

You still count as working if you are on sick leave, annual leave, or maternity, paternity, shared parental or adoption leave, or getting Statutory Neonatal Care Pay or on Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave. For the baby you are on leave with, the date you go back to work decides when hours can start (see the dates section below).

If you are not working but your partner is, you can still qualify if you are on carer's leave or eligible for certain carer's or incapacity benefits, such as Carer's Allowance or contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance. GOV.UK lists them all. A single parent on these benefits must be working and meet the earnings floor.

Other conditions

• You must live in England, and your child must usually live with you.
• You, and your partner if you have one, need a National Insurance number. The person applying must be a British or Irish citizen, have settled or pre-settled status (or be waiting for a decision), or have permission to access public funds.
• Foster carers in paid work outside fostering can get 30 hours for a foster child, but apply through their social worker and council, not online.
• Getting Universal Credit does not stop you claiming the working parents' hours if you meet the rules.

When your child's hours start: dates for 2026 to 2028

GOV.UK sets one rule. You can apply from when your child is 23 weeks old, and hours start in the term after your child turns 9 months:

• turns 9 months between 1 September and 31 December: hours from 1 January, apply by 31 December
• turns 9 months between 1 January and 31 March: hours from 1 April, apply by 31 March
• turns 9 months between 1 April and 31 August: hours from 1 September, apply by 31 August

Here is that rule worked out by date of birth for the rest of 2026 to 2027 and for 2027 to 2028.

In the "can apply from" column, the first date is for the oldest children in the row and the second for the youngest. These dates use GOV.UK's rule of 23 weeks old; Best Start in Life puts it as up to 16 weeks before your baby turns 9 months, which can fall a day or two later, so if the service will not accept your application yet, try again a few days later. "Hours from" means the first term starting on or after that date, so check your nursery's exact start day. The official advice from Best Start in Life, the government site that replaced Childcare Choices, is to apply at least 6 weeks before the deadline, because some nurseries ask for codes earlier. If you apply after the deadline, you cannot use the hours that term, but you can use them from the next term if you still qualify.

You do not have to start at 9 months. If you want hours later, apply closer to the time; as long as you still qualify, you do not lose the right to apply.

If you are on parental leave or starting a new job

If you are on maternity, paternity, shared parental or adoption leave with the child you are applying for, or you are starting a new job, the date you start work decides your first term.

Your child must also be old enough, so the later of the two dates applies. Paid annual leave counts as having returned to work. On shared parental leave, both parents must have returned, or be due to return, by 30 September, 31 January or 30 April for the autumn, spring or summer term.

The 15 hours at age 3

The universal 15 hours need no application and no code. They start in the term after your child's third birthday, and you claim them by taking your child's birth certificate to your provider.

Early Learning for 2 year olds

Your 2 year old can get 15 hours a week if any of these apply, according to GOV.UK:

• you get Universal Credit and your household income is £15,400 a year or less after tax, not counting benefit payments
• you get Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, or the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
• your child has an education, health and care (EHC) plan, or gets Disability Living Allowance
• your child is looked after by the council, or has left care under an adoption, special guardianship or child arrangements order

Some families who cannot claim benefits because of their immigration status also qualify, if their household income after tax is no more than £26,500 outside London or £34,500 in London with one child (£30,600 or £38,600 with two or more children) and they have no more than £16,000 in savings.

You apply through your council's early years team or Family Information Service, close to your child's second birthday.

How to apply and get your code

1. Talk to nurseries first. Funding does not guarantee a place at any particular setting, so contact the ones you want early and tell them you plan to use funded hours. Our guide to choosing a nursery covers what to look for.
2. Apply online through the Childcare Service on GOV.UK. It usually takes about 20 minutes. You need your National Insurance number (and your partner's), your Unique Taxpayer Reference if you are self-employed and have one, your child's UK birth certificate reference number if they have one, and the date you started or will start work.
3. Wait for the decision. You usually find out straight away, or within 10 days if extra checks are needed.
4. Give the code to your nursery. If you qualify, you get an 11-digit code in your childcare account. Give it to your provider with your National Insurance number and your child's date of birth. The nursery or council checks it before your child's funded place starts.

The same application checks whether you can get Tax-Free Childcare, and one account covers both. If you think HMRC got your eligibility wrong, you can ask for a review and appeal, and if a technical problem with the Childcare Service meant you missed a term or could not reconfirm, you may be able to claim compensation.

Reconfirming every 3 months

You must sign in to your childcare account every 3 months to confirm your details are still correct. This applies from the day you get your code, even if your child has not started using the hours yet. GOV.UK emails reminders 4 weeks and 2 weeks before each deadline. Reconfirming usually takes a few minutes. Your code must be valid on the termly deadline (31 December, 31 March or 31 August) for your child to start a funded place that term.

If you miss a reconfirmation or no longer qualify, your eligibility lapses. You can apply again at any time once you meet the rules, and then give your provider the new code.

The grace period

If your child is already in a funded place when you stop qualifying, councils should keep funding the place for a grace period. How long depends on when your code stops being valid. This table is from the DfE's statutory guidance (paragraphs A1.22 to A1.30).

Funding also stops earlier if your child reaches compulsory school age first. Councils pass this on through your nursery, which should tell you. Two limits apply:

• A child cannot start a new working parents' place during a grace period, and you normally cannot move provider during one. Councils can make exceptions, for example if a nursery closes or a family has to move because of domestic abuse, and can briefly extend a grace period in very exceptional circumstances.
• When the grace period ends, a 3 or 4 year old keeps the universal 15 hours. A 2 year old does not automatically move to Early Learning for 2 year olds, so check with your council whether your child qualifies.

What "free" covers and what a nursery can charge

The statutory guidance says the 15 or 30 hours must be free to parents, with no mandatory charges. The funding is not meant to pay for meals, consumables, extra hours or extra services, so nurseries can charge for those, on strict terms.

Optional has a real meaning here. The nursery must have a policy offering reasonable alternatives, such as bringing your own food or nappies, or waiving the cost. It cannot refuse a funded place because you opt out of extras, or make buying extra hours a condition of the place. A child who does not pay for extras should get the same quality of care as everyone else. A nursery may keep a deposit if you do not take up the place.

Nurseries should also publish their charges and the patterns of funded hours they offer, usually on their website, give you an itemised invoice that separates funded hours, paid hours, food, other consumables and activities, and agree a parental declaration with you before your child starts, listing your funded hours and any extras you have chosen. If a nursery insists you pay for extras and will not agree an alternative, GOV.UK says to speak to your council.

Stretched hours, term time and session patterns

The standard pattern is 38 weeks a year. If you need childcare for more of the year, hours can be "stretched": fewer hours a week over more weeks, if the nursery offers it. The statutory guidance gives these examples:

• 30 hours (1,140 a year) stretched over 48 weeks is around 23 hours a week
• 15 hours (570 a year) stretched over 48 weeks is just under 12 hours a week

To work out your own figure, divide the yearly total by the number of weeks the nursery is open for your child. Hours can be spread over up to 52 weeks, but they cannot be compressed: you cannot take more than 15 or 30 hours in a week to use them up in fewer than 38 weeks. If a nursery is open for fewer than 38 weeks, you simply get your weekly hours in fewer weeks.

Councils should encourage flexible patterns within these limits: no funded session longer than 10 hours, none before 6am or after 8pm, and no more than two sites in a day. Funded hours should run in a continuous block if you want them to, so a nursery should not, for example, make lunchtime a paid hour between two funded sessions.

Nurseries do not have to offer every entitlement, every pattern, or funded places at all. Ask each one which funded hours it takes, whether it stretches them, and what a typical week would cost you once extras are added.

Where you can use funded hours

Funded hours must be used with an approved provider on the Early Years Register: a registered nursery, pre-school, playscheme, club or school, or a registered childminder, including one with a registered childminder agency. You cannot use them for a nanny, a home carer or care by a relative such as a grandparent. You can split hours between more than one provider, for example a nursery and a childminder. If your child is at a state-funded school nursery class or in Reception, you cannot use the working parents' hours for care outside school hours.

FindMySchool lists group settings, such as day nurseries, pre-schools and school nurseries, but not childminders. To find a registered childminder, contact your council's Family Information Service.

Tax-Free Childcare and Universal Credit

Two other schemes can help with the part of the bill funded hours do not cover. You can use one of them alongside funded hours, but not both.

• Tax-Free Childcare. For every £8 you pay into your childcare account, the government adds £2, up to £500 every 3 months per child (£2,000 a year), or £1,000 every 3 months (£4,000 a year) if your child is disabled. You can use it for extra hours and for extras such as meals, nappies and trips supplied by the nursery. The earnings floor and £100,000 limit match the working parents' hours, the nursery must be signed up, and you reconfirm every 3 months.
• Universal Credit childcare. If you get Universal Credit and work, you can claim back up to 85% of your childcare costs, to a maximum of £1,071.09 a month for one child or £1,836.16 for two or more.

How FindMySchool helps

• Find settings close to home or work with nurseries near me, or search nurseries and childcare by place.
• Browse nurseries by city and London borough, such as the best nurseries in London, Birmingham and Manchester.
• Open a nursery's profile for its Ofsted inspection history, contact details and, where we have them, opening hours. Where we have reviewed a nursery and it publishes its funding terms, the review summarises what it says about funded places and extra charges. Always confirm the current details with the nursery.

Before you apply, do three things: check which row of the date table your child is in and put the deadline in your calendar, ask your chosen nurseries which funded hours and patterns they offer and what their extras cost, and set a reminder to reconfirm your code every 3 months.

Frequently asked questions

When can I apply for 30 hours free childcare?

You can apply online from when your child is 23 weeks old. Hours start in the term after your child turns 9 months, on 1 January, 1 April or 1 September, and you must apply by 31 December, 31 March or 31 August for each of those terms. The official advice is to apply at least 6 weeks before the deadline, because some nurseries ask for your code earlier.

What is the deadline to apply for 30 hours from January 2027?

Do you have to pay anything with 30 hours free childcare?

Can I get 30 hours if I earn over £100,000?

What happens if I forget to reconfirm my 30 hours code?

Can I get free childcare for my 2 year old?

Can I use funded hours with a childminder or a grandparent?

Can I use Tax-Free Childcare with 30 hours?