Nursery fees

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You won’t get funding until April next year. 15 hours for 9 month olds rolls out September this year so April for July 24 babies then September 2025 increases to children under 5 get 30 hours funded childcare as long as you qualify. I would strongly advise securing childcare now as most good ones have a years wait now with the new funding schemes. My November 22 babies nursery is full until 2026 !

What do you need to know? If both parents are working, but neither is solely earning over £100k, you’ll be eligible for tax free childcare and funded hours. There are also some people who will also qualify depending on whether they receive certain benefits but I don’t really know much about that so can’t help there. From April it’ll be 15 hours a week - term time only - and from September it’ll be 30. As it is term time only that means it’s for 39 weeks of the year, but you can spread it across all 52 weeks of the year. But spreading over 52 weeks of the year mean you will get 11.25 hours a week when entitled to 15 funded hours, or 22.5 a week when entitled to 30 funded hours. You apply online, the application process is easy enough, and you get a code which you then give to your nursery. You have to reconfirm you’re still eligible every few months. Yes get looking for nurseries. Most have waiting lists.

Most private nurseries offer the funding for all year round which doesn’t work for me. I work in a school and want TTO and it’s so hard to find nurseries that accept that near me. If I accept all year round in a private nursery I’ll have to pay extra to cover the rest of the hours.

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