Who gets 15 hours of free childcare and when do I apply?

Working parents in England can apply for 15 hours of free weekly childcare for their two-year-olds. The government hopes that extending free childcare to this age group from April 2024 - and to all under-5s in 2025 - will get more parents back to work. Extra help with childcare costs is being rolled out in stages. The help you can get depends on the age of your child, and whether you are working, or receiving certain benefits.

The deadline to get free hours for two-year-olds in the spring term is 31 March. To qualify for the new hours, the majority of parents must earn more than £8,670. Free childcare hours are designed to be used over 38 weeks of the year. Some providers will stretch them over 52 weeks if you use fewer hours per week.

The government is increasing the hourly rate it pays childcare providers offering free hours. However, in many cases, this rate does not cover the full cost of the childcare. The Department for Education says all additional costs are voluntary. Almost a quarter of parents said they couldn’t afford to access free childcare hours because of to top-up fees.

The average cost of full-time nursery for a child under two in Britain will be £15,709 across 2024. demand for childcare places is likely to have risen 15% by 2025. That’s equivalent to more than 100,000 additional children requiring full-time care. The government is offering a cash incentive of £600 to those who become childminders (or £1,200 for those joining via an agency) Department for Education doesn’t yet have figures for the numbers who have signed up.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said the government would guarantee payments to childcare providers for two years to help provide stability. All three and four-year-olds are entitled to some free childcare across the UK. The government has a childcare calculator to help compare available schemes. The Care to Learn scheme offers further help to student parents who are under 20 at the start of their course.

The child benefit rules are set to change in the next few months. For more information on the child benefit changes, visit the government’s website.