The following information summarises the eligibility criteria for parents of 3 and 4 year olds for 30 hours childcare which goes live nationally on 1 September 2017.
The government have developed a suite of information, for parents, linked to support with the cost of childcare that can be accessed at the following link https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/
From this webpage parents can locate information about what support they may be eligible for. This will depend on the age of their child. It will be signposted and linked to the relevant pages to be able to register. It will also confirm their entitlement for Tax-free childcare and the 30 hour entitlement.
Any parent applying for the 30 hour entitlement will be issued with an 11 digit eligibility code. For those parents wishing to take up their entitlement from 1 September, they will need to have registered and confirmed their eligibility with HMRC before 31 August.
We have been advised that there are some delays and technical issues in the processing of applications by HMRC. This means that not all applications received before 31 August deadline will be processed in time for eligible parents to access their entitlement in September. There has been national press coverage of this issue and a recent announcement from the DfE sets out the process for parents who have been affected by these delays. If this affects you then in order to seek compensation please visit the following web page https://www.gov.uk/guidance/childcare-service-compensation
Parents will need to contact their chosen provider(s) to discuss their requirements and once an agreement between the parent and the provider(s) has been reached, the parent will need to present the 11-digit code to them. Every three months, families will need to re-confirm their eligibility through the HMRC website. If eligibility is not re-confirmed, parents will lose the additional free hours for their child.
