From September 2024, children of eligible working parents may be entitled to 570 hours per year funded childcare from 9 months of age. This is known as the Working Parent Entitlement.
Eligible families can receive up to 15 hours funded per week for their child over 38 weeks of the year (term-time) or approximately 11 hours per week, each week of the year. The offer is not 15 hours funded each week of the year.
Parents must apply through HMRC for the Working Parent Entitlement.
Applications are now open.
Qualifying criteria
Your child must be the right age to receive 15 hours funded working parent entitlement:
| A child who reaches 9 months of age between | Will be age-eligible for the working parent entitlement from |
| 1 April and 31 August | 1 September |
|
1 September and 31 December |
1 January |
|
1 January and 31 March |
1 April |
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);
Or if:
One parent is employed or self-employed and one parent gets one or more of the following benefits:
- Contribution based Employment and Support Allowance
- Carer's Allowance
- Incapacity Benefit or long-term Incapacity Benefit
- Severe Disablement Allowance
- National Insurance credits because of incapacity or limited capacity for work
- If the parent has been assessed as having limited capacity for work for Universal Credit purposes.
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.
Apply for 15 hours working parent entitlement
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. The date you start or return to work will affect when you can apply for working parent entitlement:
| Date starting/returning to work | When to apply | Funding available from* |
| 1 May to 30 September |
1 April to 31 August |
1 September |
| 1 October to 31 January |
1 September to 31 December |
1 January |
| 1 February to 30 April |
1 January to 31 March |
1 April |
*depending on the child's age
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:
| If a child reaches 9 months of age between | A code must be issued by HMRC before midnight on | If the parent wants the child to start 15 hours funded childcare from |
| 1 April and 31 August | 31 August | 1 September |
| 1 September and 31 December | 31 December | 1 January |
| 1 January and 31 March | 31 March | 1 April |
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.
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 15 hours 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 15 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 15 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 15 hours funded childcare, the grace period does not apply.
You should take your 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.
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.
Applications must be made with your child’s social worker, find out more on the funded entitlements for children in foster care page.