30 hours funded childcare from 9 months

From September 2025, children of eligible working parents may be entitled to 1,140 hours per year funded childcare from 9 months of age to 4 years. This is known as the Working Parent Entitlement.

Eligible families can receive up to 30 hours funded per week for their child over 38 weeks of the year (term-time) or fewer hours over more weeks of the year. The offer is not 30 hours funded each week of the year.

Parents must apply through HMRC for the Working Parent Entitlement.

Qualifying criteria

Your child must be the right age to receive Working Parent Entitlement:

To be eligible for the Working Parent Entitlement, both parents (or for single parent families, the sole parent) must:

• Each expect to earn the equivalent of 16 hours per week at the National Living Wage or National Minimum Wage for your age.

Where a parent is in a 'start-up period' (i.e. they are newly self-employed) they do not need to demonstrate that they meet the income criteria for 12 months.

Both parents, or for single parent families, the sole parent must also:

• Live in England

• Expect to have an income of less than £100,000 each a year.

If one or both parents are unemployed, they must become employed within 31 days of applying.

There are some exceptions, and families will also be eligible if both parents are employed but one parent (or both parents) are:

• temporarily away from the workplace on maternity, paternity, adoption or parental leave;

• temporarily away from the workplace on statutory sick pay;

• are temporarily away from England for a period of up to 6 months, such as if the parent/s are in the military (on duty);

If you’re not currently working, you may still be eligible if your partner is working, and you are on carer’s leave or you get any of the following:

• Incapacity Benefit

• Severe Disablement Allowance

• Carer’s Allowance

• Limited Capacity for Work Benefit

• Contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance.

Parent/s are not eligible if:

• They are in receipt of a childcare grant

• They are a full-time student/an intern

• They are not entitled to receive public funds.

Please note: All application queries must be directed to HMRC. Please call 0300 123 4097 to speak to HMRC’s Childcare Service helpline.

You can apply from when your child is 23 weeks old. When you can get your hours from will depend on the date your child turns 9 months old. The date you start or return to work will affect when you can apply for Working Parent Entitlement. More information can be found here.

Application deadlines

There are application deadlines in place for the Working Parent Entitlement.

We strongly advise parents to apply well in advance of deadlines shown below as some applications can take 14 days to be resolved. If a code is not issued by the start of a funding period, the child will have to wait until the following funding period before they can take up the entitlement, as set out below:

Deadlines for Working Parent Entitlement for children aged 9 months+:

If the child is already over the age of 9 months, the same principle applies that funded childcare cannot begin until the funding period (1 September, 1 January, 1 April) following successful application.

Once your eligibility is confirmed, you should take your 11-digit code to your chosen childcare provider as soon as possible to book your place. Your childcare provider will then start the process with the council to validate your code.

Reconfirming your eligibility

Every three months, parents will be asked to confirm that they are still eligible. You can confirm your eligibility again by logging into your childcare service account on the gov.uk website.

If the parent is no longer eligible for Working Parent Entitlement, or they have missed the deadline for reconfirming their eligibility, the government has provided a 'grace period' - a period of time when the child can continue to receive 30 hours Working Parent Entitlement. Once the grace period ends, if the parent remains ineligible, the entitlement will finish.

If a parent applied very early, they may need to confirm that they are still eligible before the child has started their 30 hour place; if a parent receives an ineligible response when they reconfirm, or if they do not reconfirm in time before the child has begun accessing their 30 hours funded childcare, the grace period does not apply.

Falling out of eligibility

If a parent cannot receive Working Parent Entitlement because:

• They have not applied in time before the application deadline
• They are no longer eligible at the point of reconfirmation, and the grace period has passed
• They are not eligible for the grace period as the child has not yet begun accessing 30 hours

Some funding may still be available in these circumstances:

• Children aged 2 may be eligible to receive 15 funded hours through the disadvantaged entitlement
• Children aged 3 and 4 will still receive 15 hours universal entitlement.

Further support with childcare costs

Additional government support is available to help with the cost of childcare, which can be used alongside the Working Parent Entitlement. Find out more about Tax Free Childcare and Universal Credit for childcare on the Childcare Choices website.

Foster carers

If you are a foster carer, you may be eligible to claim this entitlement. Applications must be made through the local authority responsible for the child, you can't apply for foster children using the HMRC application process. The application process is detailed here.