1 Overview
Working families who meet the eligibility criteria can claim up to 15 or 30 hours of childcare per week.
From September 2024, eligible working parents of children aged 9 months up to 3 years old can access up to 15 hours of funded childcare per week (calculated over 38 weeks of the year) the term after their child turns 9 months old.
Eligible working parents of children aged 3 to 4 years can access an additional 15 hours of funded childcare per week. This means eligible 3 and 4 year olds can access up to 30 funded hours (over 38 weeks of the year) of childcare per week.
From September 2025, eligible working parents of children aged 9 months and above will be able to access up to 30 hours of funded childcare per week (calculated over 38 weeks a year) the term after their child turns 9 months old.
Find out if your child is eligible and how you can apply.
2 Eligibility and how to apply
You could get the funded hours for working families if you and your partner (if you have one) work full or part time hours. You could still be eligible, even if you are on maternity, paternity or adoption leave, or if you are unable to work due to sickness or caring responsibilities.
To find out if you are eligible for the funded hours for working families you can visit Childcare Choices and use their online eligibility calculator. Visit GOV.UK to check the full eligibility criteria.
Applications must be made through the online Government Gateway. You must have applied for and received your code before:
- 31 March if your child becomes eligible for funded hours for working families for the summer term (April)
- 31 August if your child becomes eligible for funded hours for working families for the autumn term (September)
- 31 December if your child becomes eligible for funded hours for working families for the spring term (January)
If you do not apply for and receive your eligibility code by the deadline, your child will not be able to access funded hours for the term. Once you apply you may find out if you're eligible straight away, but it can take up to 7 days. We recommend applying for your code before the above deadlines to ensure you receive your code in good time.
Once you have received your eligibility code, you need to remember to reconfirm your code every 3 months. You do not need to re-apply, only reconfirm.
If you are unable to apply online, or have any problems with the application process, contact Childcare Service helpline for support.
Apply online (external link)3 Eligibility codes
Once your eligibility is confirmed, you will receive an 11 digit eligibility code for the funded hours for working families. You can find our more on how to use your funded hours.
It is important to remember that your code must be reconfirmed every 3 months. The government should remind you by text message or email before the deadline. You can do this by logging in to your Government Gateway account you created to apply for your code.
Your chosen childcare provider should check your code is valid before you start. When they do this, they can see the start date, end date and grace period that relates to your code.
Start date - is when your code was issued (applied via the HMRC application process), but this is not the date your child can access their funding. The start date of a code must always be before 31 March, August or December.
End date - is the date you need to reconfirm your code by. The code enters its ‘Grace Period’ the day after.
Grace period - is the period of time where a code is still able to be used to access funding. However, it can only be used if a funded place is already being accessed. The code is valid at your child’s current provider up until the ‘Grace period end date’.
Grace period end date - is the potential date that your child could be funded up to if they fall out of eligibility, such as if your working hours change. It is important to note you only use your code during its grace period if you are already accessing a funded place. You cannot access funding at a new provider.
It is important you provide your chosen childcare provider with your code as soon as possible.
If you remain eligible and reconfirm on time, then funding continues until your child becomes of statutory school age (the end of the term that they turn 5), or when your child starts to attend school (even on a part time basis), whichever is earliest.
4 Information for foster carers and kinship carers
Foster carers can apply for funded hours for working families. If you are a foster carer you need to liaise with your social worker to assess whether accessing a funded childcare place is in the best interests of the child.
Eligibility
Foster carers must still meet the working families eligibility criteria. This means you must also be in receipt of paid employment or self-employment outside of your foster carer role if you wish to apply for this funding.
Children in foster care will be able to receive funded hours for working families, if the certain criteria are met. These are:
- an agreement from the responsible local authority that the foster parent engaging in paid work outside their role as a foster parent is consistent with the child’s care plan and the agreement that the foster parents can take up the free childcare entitlement should be recorded and the care plan for the child should be updated as appropriate
- that, in single parent foster families, the foster parent engages in paid work outside their role as a foster parent, although there is no minimum income requirement
- in 2 parent foster families, either both partners engage in paid work outside their role as a foster parent (although there is no minimum income requirement for either foster parent) or one partner engages in paid work and the other partner receives certain qualifying benefits
- if one partner is not a foster parent, then that partner must be in qualifying paid work and earn a minimum of the equivalent to 16 hours at national minimum wage, unless they are receiving certain qualifying benefits
- if one partner is not a foster parent, then that partner must be in qualifying paid work and earn a minimum of the equivalent to 16 hours at national minimum wage, unless they are receiving certain qualifying benefits
- a child in foster care has a disability and the foster carer is a full-time carer for this child, however, they must have a partner who is working outside their fostering role and the foster carer who is the full-time carer must also be in receipt of Carers Allowance
If foster carers do not meet the eligibility criteria, West Sussex County Council can assess the child’s needs for early years’ education and childcare as part of the child’s care plan, but this would be funded in a different way.
Application
If you are a foster carer, you should first speak to your child’s social worker to assess whether access to funded childcare for working families is in the best interests of the child. The designated person from the West Sussex Virtual School will give the final agreement to ensure that it is in the child’s best interest.
If it is agreed that accessing funded hours will benefit the child, you will then complete an application form provided by the county council.
Foster carers, like all other parents and carers accessing funded hours for working families, are required to reconfirm their eligibility every 3 months. To reconfirm your eligibility, the Early Years Funding team will contact your allocated social worker, who will then get in contact with you to check if you are still eligible.
Kinship carers
Kinship carers may be entitled to financial support to help cover the cost of childcare. There are different types of kinship carers. Visit the Kinship West Sussex page to find out more. You can also visit the looking after someone else’s child government web page. Connected person foster carers should follow the above guidance for foster carers.
Parents are eligible to make an application for funded hours for working families. A parent, in relation to a child, includes any individual who has either:
- parental responsibility for the child
- has care of the child
Therefore, if you are classed as a kinship carer who has parental responsibility or care of the child, you may be eligible. You should apply through Childcare Choices, and when asked your relationship to the child, select the guardian option.