As of 1 September, parents of children aged 9 months and over can access 15 hours of free childcare per week during school termtime.
The measures are part of plans to progressively increase childcare support for working parents, which we covered in Employer Focus when they were first announced last year. The aim is to offer 30 hours of free childcare from September 2025 to working parents with children under five years old.
These changes apply in England only - there are different schemes in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Eligibility
Free childcare support is available to working parents with expected earnings over the next three months of at least the National Minimum Wage (NMW) or National Living Wage (NLW) – eg £2,380 for those aged 21 and over. In a household with two parents, or a parent and their partner, both must have expected income over the next three months of at least the relevant NMW/NLW in order for free childcare support to be available.
Households where a parent or their partner’s adjusted net income is expected to exceed £100,000 in the current tax year will not generally be able to access free childcare support, although households in receipt of certain benefits may be entitled to apply.
More information on who can benefit can be found on the GOV.UK free childcare eligibility guide.
How to apply
To make use of the free childcare support, parents have to apply for a code, which they’ll need to give to their chosen approved childcare provider. Parents need to renew these codes every three months, to confirm they are still eligible.
Free childcare is available from the start of the school term after the child reaches 9 months of age. For example if a child will turn 9 months old during the current term (September to December 2024), their parent or guardian should apply during the current term in order to access free childcare for the term beginning in January 2025.
Further details and the online application process can be found on the GOV.UK childcare application page. The Childcare Choices website offers a handy questionnaire for parents to complete, which explains what childcare support is available to them.
This article reflects the position at the date of publication shown above. If you are reading this at a later date you are advised to check that that position has not changed in the time since.
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