THOUSANDS of parents have just days left to apply for free childcare or risk missing out on £2,000 worth of help.
Parents of young children can access up to 30 free hours a week but anyone eligible from next term needs to apply by December 31.
The Department for Education has a new tool on its website where you can check what your entitlement might be.
You can then apply for a code via gov.uk and give it to your childcare provider to get the free hours.
You have to reconfirm your availability for free childcare hours every three months.
How many hours free childcare you’ll get depends on your specific circumstances but it could be worth up to £2,000 a year.
How much you receive depends on your income and the types of benefits you receive.
For example, working parents of children aged nine months up to three years can get 15 hours per week for 38 weeks a year, and those aged three and four can get 30 hours.
Some parents receiving support like Universal Credit or whose child has an education, health and care (EHC) plan can also access 15 hours for their two-year-old.
From September 2025, children aged nine months to two years old will get 30 hours per week of free childcare.
To qualify, the vast majority of parents will need to earn more than £9,518 but less than £100,000 a year.
Your two-year-old can also get free childcare if you live in England and get any of the following benefits:
Parents on Universal Credit and in a paid job can also have up to 85% of their childcare costs covered, up to £1,014.63 a month for one child and £1,739.37 a month for two or more children.
It doesn’t matter how many hours you work.
If you’re more than 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under four, you may be able to get help buying food and milk through the Healthy Start scheme.
Families on Universal Credit can apply online if their take-home pay is £408 or less from employment.
If you get Child Tax Credit, you may be eligible for Healthy Start if:
You can check out the full list of support by clicking the link here.
YOU can use a benefits calculator to help check that you are not missing out on money you are entitled to
Charity Turn2Us’ benefits calculator works out what you could get.
Entitledto’s free calculator determines whether you qualify for various benefits, tax credit and Universal Credit.
MoneySavingExpert.com and charity StepChange both have benefits tools powered by Entitledto’s data.
You can use Policy in Practice’s calculator to determine which benefits you could receive and how much cash you’ll have left over each month after paying for housing costs.
Your exact entitlement will only be clear when you make a claim, but calculators can indicate what you might be eligible for.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.
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