Children become eligible for funded early education from the start of the term following their birthday, once they meet the age and eligibility criteria.
There are three funding terms each year:
- Spring Term – starts 1st January.
- Summer Term – starts 1st April.
- Autumn Term – starts 1st September.
Child date of birth:
- 1st September - 31st December eligible for Spring Funding from 1st January.
- 1st January - 31st March eligible for Summer Funding from 1st April.
- 1st April - 31st August eligible for Autumn Funding from 1st September.
We offer stretched funding so families can access funded hours across most of the year.
Funding is delivered over 51 weeks, in line with the Local Authority’s approved models.
Weekly funded amounts under stretched funding:
- 15-hour entitlement: 11.18 funded hours per week.
- 30-hour entitlement: 22.35 funded hours per week.
Unfortunately, we do not offer term-time-only funding (i.e. funding delivered over 38 weeks).
All children in England are entitled to 15 hours of funded early education (Universal Entitlement) from the term after their third birthday.
- Funding continues until your child starts school.
Children from the term after their 9-month birthday may be entitled to 30 hours of funded early education if their parents meet the government’s working-parent eligibility criteria.
- Parents must check their eligibility via the Best Start in Life government website.
- If eligible, parents must obtain an 11-digit working parent eligibility code from HMRC and share this with the nursery.
- Parents must also reconfirm their eligibility every three months to ensure funding remains valid.
- If a family’s eligibility changes, a grace period may apply in line with government guidance.
To ensure that your child can receive the working parents entitlement, you must apply and have funding codes validated by the Local Authority by the following deadlines:
- 31st March to receive the funding from the Summer Term.
- 31st August to receive the funding from the Autumn Term.
- 31st December to receive the funding from the Spring Term.
Once you receive your confirmed childcare funding code, please share it with the nursery as soon as possible, along with your child’s date of birth and your National Insurance number.
We will then:
- Validate your code through the Local Authority childcare funding system.
- Confirm your child’s eligibility and start date.
- Send you a Local Authority funding form via a third-party system (Funding Loop).
- Once the funding form has been completed correctly, apply the funding to your account from the appropriate term.
Please note that funding can only be applied once the code has been successfully validated and within the correct funding term. If your code is not validated in time, funding may be deferred to the following term.
If you need any help checking or submitting your code, our team will be happy to support you.
