Eligibility

You need to meet the eligibility criteria before you can claim 15 hours free childcare.

Working parents in England who each earn more than £8,670 - equivalent to at least £167 per week or 16 hours at the National Minimum Wage - but less than £100,000 adjusted net income per year, will be eligible.

Eligibility is calculated on an individual basis rather than by household. This means if you have a partner, you must both individually earn between these two amounts.

If you, or your partner, are on maternity, paternity, or adoption leave, or one of you is unable to work because you are disabled or have caring responsibilities, you could still be eligible.

You (and your partner if you have one) must have a national insurance number, and at least one parent (the one who is making the application) must have at least one of the following:

• British or Irish citizenship
• settled or pre-settled status, or you have applied and you're waiting for a decision
• permission to access public funds - your UK residence card will tell you if you can't do this.

Parents already receiving some additional forms of government support, such as Universal Credit, working tax credits or child tax credits, can also receive 15 hours of fully funded early education, including childcare, for 2-year-olds, separate from the new entitlement for working parents.

Students who work in addition to studying are eligible if you meet the income requirements. Students who do not work are not eligible.

If your partner works and meets the eligibility criteria, and you are on maternity leave, paternity leave, or adoption leave, you may still be eligible. Please see this article for more information.

To make sure there are enough places available, the government is investing over £400 million in 2024-25 to increase the hourly rates paid to local authorities.

For 2024-25, national average hourly rates paid by the government will be £11.22 for children under 2-years-olds, £8.28 for two-year-olds, and £5.88 for three- and four-year-olds.

Start-up grants will also be available for new or returning childminders who have:

• completed their registration on or after 15 March 2023
• [for returning childminders] registered at least 12 months after the cancellation of a previous registration.

Childminders will receive grants of:

• £600 for those who choose to register with Ofsted
• £1,200 for those who choose to register with a childminder agency.

You can only apply for the first phase of the new working parent entitlement if your child is already 2-years-old or will have had their 2nd birthday on or before 31 March 2024.

This is because children become eligible for a free childcare place at different points in the year, depending on when they were born. They may have to wait until the next academic term before they are eligible.

Children who are born on or after 1 April will become eligible later in the year:

Parents are only able to claim the entitlements from the term after because this gives local authorities and childcare providers enough time to prepare.

You can apply for the 15 hours, and this will not affect your Universal Credit.

If you are taking up more than 15 hours, you can claim UC childcare which can support you with up to 85% of the cost of the remaining hours.

If your child is already 2 years old, you will be able to claim the 15 hours entitlement from 1 April 2024 so long as you meet the eligibility criteria. If your child then turns 3 between 1 April 2024 and 31 August 2024, you will be able to claim the 30 hours entitlement for 3-and-4-year-olds from 1 September 2024. If you fall out of eligibility, you will still have access to the universal 15 hours for 3- and 4-year-olds and will have a grace period until the 31 December, if your child is in a childcare provider place. Claiming the 15 hours for 2-year-olds will not affect your eligibility to claim the 30 hours for 3- and 4-year-olds in the following term.

If you already have a Tax-Free Childcare account for your 2-year-old you will be given your free childcare code when you next reconfirm eligibility for that scheme.

Applications are open from now until 31 March. If you miss the deadline, or don't receive your code by 31 March, you won't be able to start using the new entitlements from 1 April.

We are aware that some parents with a late February / early March confirmation window may be anxious about confirming a place in time. For those parents whose reconfirmation window opens on or after the 15th February and who wish to give their provider a code earlier, we are setting out the following steps:

1. HMRC will send out letters before the middle of February with a valid temporary code which you can use to confirm your child's place with their provider for April (with hours funded by the entitlement).
2. After this you will still need to reconfirm your eligibility through your online childcare account in the usual way when your reconfirmation window opens.
3. You will then receive a new digital code via your childcare account that you can then use for as long as you stay eligible and reconfirm when prompted to. You will need to provide this to your childcare provider, though you will not need to wait for this digital code to confirm your free place (the temporary code can be used for this).

The next steps will be set out clearly in the letter you will receive. You should not contact HMRC before you've received your letter as they won't be able to provide you with a code.

You will receive a reminder:

• when your reconfirmation window opens
• a week before your reconfirmation deadline
• on your reconfirmation deadline.

You will not be able to reconfirm your eligibility before your reconfirmation window begins.

The income eligibility criteria are applied on a per parent basis as tax is calculated on an individual basis rather than a household basis. Working parents who individually earn more than £8,670 (equivalent to at least £167 per week or 16 hours at the National Minimum Wage) but less than £100,000 adjusted net income per year, will be eligible.

Whilst you cannot claim Universal Credit and Tax-Free Childcare at the same time, those on Universal Credit will still be able to claim the 15 hours entitlement, as long as they meet the eligibility criteria.

This will not affect your ability to claim Universal Credit. If you are taking up more than 15 hours childcare, you can claim Universal Credit Childcare, which can support you with up to 85% of the cost of any additional childcare you pay for. Please see the Universal Credit childcare costs page for more information.

Alternatively, there is a separate entitlement which means that parents of 2 year olds who are already receiving some additional forms of government support, such as Universal Credit or tax credits, can receive 15 hours of funded early education, including childcare. This is separate from the new entitlement for working parents. All parents regardless of employment status or income levels are eligible for the universal 15 hours for 3- and 4-year-olds.

The £100,000 adjusted net income level was chosen to correspond with income tax thresholds. The universal 15 hours of free childcare offer remains in place for all parents of 3- and 4-year-olds, regardless of parental circumstances, including those who earn over £100,000.

You may still be eligible if your partner is working, and you get Carer's Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance, Limited Capability for Work Benefit, contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance or the limited ability to work element of Universal Credit.

However, if you are a single parent on one of these benefits you will also need to be working and meet the income requirements to be eligible for this entitlement.

Alternatively, parents already receiving some additional forms of government support, such as Universal Credit or tax credits, can receive 15 hours of funded early education, including childcare, for 2-year-olds, separate from the new entitlement for working parents. All parents regardless of employment status or income levels are eligible for the universal 15 hours for 3- and 4-year-olds.

Claiming Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payments for yourself or your child does not automatically grant you eligibility to use this entitlement. You would still need to be working and meet the income requirements in order to claim it.

However, parents who are already receiving some additional forms of government support, can receive 15 hours of funded early education, including childcare, for 2-year-olds. This is separate from the new entitlement for working parents and is available to parents whose child is entitled to Disability Living Allowance. All parents regardless of employment status or income levels are eligible for the universal 15 hours for 3- and 4-year-olds.

There are now two 15 hour entitlements for 2 year olds:

1. Parents who are receiving some additional forms of government support may be eligible for 15 hours of early education. Applications for this 15 hour entitlement are usually made through local authorities or providers, not through the HMRC childcare service accessed via gov.uk.
2. Parents can apply for 15 hours free childcare for working parents of 2 year olds, if they meet the eligibility criteria. You apply for this through the HMRC Childcare Service and will be told by HMRC if you are eligible or not.

If you are told that you are not eligible for one of these entitlements, you should check whether you're eligible for the other one (using Childcare Choices). Although there will be some parents who are not eligible for either entitlement.

If you are already claiming Tax-Free Childcare and your reconfirmation window doesn't open before the 15th February, and you do not yet have a code for this reason, HMRC will send you a letter before the 15th of February with a valid temporary code.

This code can be used to confirm your place with a provider for April, but after this you will still need to reconfirm through your online childcare account in the usual way when your reconfirmation window opens. The next steps will be set out clearly in the letter you will receive.

You should not contact HMRC before you receive your letter as they will be unable to provide you with a code.

If you haven't received a letter by the 15th February, or if you lose the letter including your code, you will be able to contact HMRC who will be able to remind you of your code.

Where possible, please wait for your letter to arrive and refrain from contacting HMRC before this time.

Before your letter arrives, you have the option to speak to your provider, explain that you are waiting for your HMRC letter, and ask if they can reserve a place for you.

You can show that you are eligible for Tax-Free Childcare if your provider asks for proof of eligibility. This is evidence that you are eligible for the new working parents entitlements as these forms of support have the same eligibility criteria. You can show them:

• Proof of your Tax-Free Childcare eligibility (this can be a screenshot from your childcare account, or showing them your account on your phone)
• When your reconfirmation window is (you can get this from your childcare account)
• Your National Insurance number, and
• Proof of your child's date of birth, for example your child's birth certificate, to show that your child turns 2 on or before 31 March 2024.

You will need to show your provider the code that you will receive in your letter from HMRC. You must do this to formally secure your place. If you do not give your provider a code, you won't be able to take up a funded place.

We also know that some providers are able to amend invoices if they have issued them before a parent has received their code, so we recommend you speak to your provider if you are in this situation.