2 year old nursery: Help paying for childcare: Free education and childcare for 2-year-olds

Free childcare for 2 year olds | Free childcare and education for 2 to 4 year olds

Free childcare and education for 2 to 4 year olds

Parents and carers eligibility checker

Check eligibility and apply for a 2 year place with a private nursery or childminder

Check eligibility and apply for a 2 year place in a school nursery

A Government funded 2 year old place is available for families in England, receiving some forms of support. Once eligibility is confirmed eligibility will remain until school age even if a families circumstances change.

Eligible 2 year old children will receive;

• 15 hours of free childcare or early education for 38 weeks
• A total of 570 hours per year, which you can use flexibly with one or more childcare provider
• Some providers will allow you to ‘stretch’ the hours over 52 weeks, using fewer hours per week

Funded places can be accessed as below;

• Children born in the period 1 January to 31 March: the start of term beginning on or following 1 April after the child’s birthday;
• Children born in the period 1 April to 31 August: the start of term beginning on or following 1September after the child’s birthday;
• Children born in the period 1 September to 31 December: the start of term beginning on or following 1 January after the child’s birthday.

Children can start a funded place from the first day of term until the below headcount date;

• Autumn census – first Thursday in October
• Spring census – third Thursday in January
• Summer census – third Thursday in May

If a child leaves a funded place before the headcount date or starts after the above headcount date the provider may charge the family for the agreed funded hours.

Your 2-year-old can get free early education and childcare if you live in England and get one of the following benefits:

• Income Support
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Universal Credit – if you and your partner have a combined income from work of £15,400 or less a year, after tax
• tax credits and you have an income of £16,190 or less a year, before tax
• the guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
• support through part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act
• the Working Tax Credit 4-week run on (the payment you get when you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit)

A child can also get free early education and childcare if any of the following apply:

• they’re looked after by a local council
• they have a current statement of special education needs (SEN) or an education, health and care (EHC) plan
• they get Disability Living Allowance
• they’ve left care under a special guardianship order, child arrangements order or adoption order
• Children of If the child is a UK citizen, a parent or parents with sole care of the child also have a right to reside and work in the UK.”>Zambrano Carers
• Children of families with no recourse to public funds with a right to remain in the UK on the grounds of private and family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights;
• Children of a subset of failed asylum seekers (supported under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 – ‘the 1999 Act’).

This guidance from the gov.uk website was current at the time of publishing please refer to the gov.uk website for any updates.

Provider eligibility checker

If you are a private nursery or childminder check a child’s eligibility

If you are a school nursery check a child’s eligibility 

Download information for parents on Funded early education

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  Free childcare and education for 3 and 4 year olds

Free childcare – Kent County Council

Universal entitlement

All 3 and 4 year olds can have up to 15 hours of free childcare each week for 38 weeks a year. Some childcare providers may offer fewer hours per week over more weeks of a year (up to 570 hours). This is known as stretched funding.

This is a national scheme every child in England is entitled to.

There is no application process for this funding. To access your entitlement, find a childcare provider who is registered with us to deliver it.

For more information about using your free childcare, read our parents’ guide to 15 hours (universal) funding.

Find out when your 3 year old is eligible

The Department for Education sets the dates for when children become eligible by age. These eligibility dates apply to both the universal (15 hours) and extended (30 hours) entitlement.

30 hours of free childcare

Eligible working families with 3 and 4 year olds can receive up to 30 hours of free childcare each week. This is an extra 15 hours of free childcare in addition to the universal entitlement and is known as extended entitlement.

It is available over 38 weeks a year or some childcare providers may offer fewer hours per week over more weeks a year (up to 1,140 hours in total for the combined 30 hours).

Apply for 30 hours

To get the additional hours you will need to sign up online to get an eligibility code. You’ll also need to reconfirm your eligibility every 3 months.

You must apply for your 30 hours eligibility code in the term before your child becomes eligible by age or if already eligible by age, in the term before you wish to take up the offer. The government has recommended application periods. If you do not apply within these recommended periods you may not get your code in time. If you do not apply for and receive your code before the deadline date you will not be able to take up your place until the term after.

To find out about full eligibility criteria, how to apply and other information read our guide to 30 hour funding.

Apply for 30 hours of free childcare

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