30 Hours Free Childcare

Stoughton Pre-School is pleased to confirm that from September 2017 we will be offering up to 30 hours of free childcare per week for each eligible child during term time. This means that we will be opening all day from 9am to 3.30pm, Monday to Friday.

All three and four year olds living in England are entitled to 570 hours of free early education and childcare a year. This is usually offered as 15 hours a week for up to 38 weeks a year and is a universal entitlement. From September 2017 the government will be increasing the free hours from 15 to 30 a week for children of working families who meet the eligibility criteria. This means that eligible children will be able to receive up to 1140 hours of free childcare a year. These changes will be introduced as part of the Childcare Act 2016. The extra free hours will be made available to families where both parents (or the sole parent in a lone parent family):
 

  • are working and earn on average a weekly minimum amount equivalent to working 16 hours at either National Minimum Wage (NMW), National Living Wage (NLW) or National Apprentice Rate
  • have an income of no more than £100,000 each per year
  • live in England
     

You may still be eligible to apply if you or your partner:
 

  • are taking paid time off work, such as maternity leave, paternity leave or sick leave
  • are temporarily away from England for a period of up to 6 months, such as on military duty
     

You can also apply if either you or your partner are employed or self-employed and one of you gets one of 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 capability for work
  • you've been assessed as having limited capability for work for Universal Credit purposes​​​​​​

How Do I Claim?

To claim the 30 free hours of childcare from September, you must apply through the Childcare Choices Government website: www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

This site will help you to see what childcare support you are entitled to. If you are eligible for the 30 free hours, you will be given an 11-digit code and will be told when you can start to use your funded hours.

Once you have the code, give it to us and we can then help to submit a form to Surrey County Council. It’s really important that you check your eligibility as soon as possible as Surrey County Council will not fund children without confirmation of eligibility codes first.

If you have any problems when applying for the 30 free hours children, you can contact the government's Customer Interaction Centre on 0300 123 4097.
 

31st August Deadline!

If you want to start using the 30 hours free childcare this autumn term (September), you need to apply through www.childcarechoices.gov.uk on or before 31 August 2017. Anyone who applies from 1 September 2017 onward's will not be able to take up their free extended hours until 1 January 2018.
 

For more information please speak to Dawn, the Pre-School Manager, or visit the Surrey County Council website on this link.