Parents are being urged to check if they're eligible to claim 30 hours free childcare worth £6,500 a year.
The Department for Education (DfE) has launched a free online tool which parents in England can visit to see what childcare support they are entitled to, depending on their earnings and their child’s age. The tool tells them what they are available to claim under the current childcare support offers and in the future when its extended scheme is launched.
The website will also give parents the opportunity to sign up for regular updates letting them know when they should take action to make sure they are getting the support they are entitled to. This includes when the new 15 free hours for two-year-olds from April 2024 become available for sign-ups.
In the Spring budget, the Government said the extra support would be available to working parents from April next year and it would be fully completed by 2025. From April 2024, 15 hours of free childcare will be available to working parents with two-year-olds and from September, the 15-hour offer will be extended to children from nine months. The full 30-hour offer to all under-fives will come in from September 2025.
The Government says the move could help working parents save around £6,500 per year on childcare costs.
As part of the Government's plan for childcare, it today announced that £100million is being made available for local areas to support childcare settings in their areas to increase their physical space. Local authorities will also receive funding to offer primary school children wraparound care from 8am to 6pm. How much each area gets of the £289million will be based on “anticipated need”.
The education department also announced that the childminder start-up grant scheme will open for applications next month on November 30. The grant – £600 for those who register with Ofsted and £1,200 for those who register with a childminder agency – is aimed at boosting the numbers of childminders working to offer parents more flexible childcare.
Education secretary, Gillian Keegan, said: "No one should have to choose between having a career and having a family, so I’m determined that every parent who wants it should have access to the childcare they need.
"Flexibility is at the heart of our plans to transform childcare for families, whether it’s offering quality childcare out of school hours or making sure there are more early years places where they’re needed most. This is the largest investment in childcare in our history, so I encourage people with young children or those thinking about starting a family to visit the Childcare Choices website to find out what they’re eligible for.”
Responding to the announcement, Helen Hayes, Labour’s shadow children and early years minister, said that "without more details" the pledge "isn’t worth the paper it’s written on".
She said: “Without more details about whether this is new money, how many places it will provide and how new childcare will be staffed this pledge isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. The Conservatives have overseen a dramatic fall in the number of childcare providers and places – they simply cannot be trusted to deliver the change in childcare that families need and deserve.”
Parents can visit childcarechoices.gov.uk to use the eligibility checker here.