Your child will be entitled to 30 hours childcare from the funding term after both of the following conditions are satisfied:

• Your child has reached the age of three

• You have a current confirmation of eligibility from HMRC

The eligibility criteria can be viewed on the government's childcare service website.

Parents can apply using the online Childcare Service

If you are eligible, you will be given an 11 digit code by HMRC via the Childcare Service.

You should apply for 30 hours childcare and get your code the term before you wish to claim your child’s place. This code must be given to your childcare provider.

You can apply outside of these recommended dates but you might not receive your code in time. If you apply more than three months before the term starts, you’ll have to reconfirm your eligibility in your account in order to keep your code valid.

If you become eligible for 30 hours part-way through the term, you can start claiming the additional hours, the funding term after you got your code.

HMRC are responsible for checking whether a parent is eligible and issuing the 11 digit code. This is not done via childcare providers or BCP Council, nor do BCP Council use any discretion to overrule entitlement decisions made via the HMRC Childcare Service (eg late applications).

You have to reconfirm your eligibility every three months. Please check your reconfirmation dates in your account.

Contact the HMRC Childcare Service helpline if you need help with:

• applying for 30 hours funded childcare
• using your childcare account
• applying for Tax-Free Childcare

Telephone: 0300 123 4097

Textphone: 0300 123 9232

The phone line opening hours are:

Monday to Friday: 8am to 6pm. Closed on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays.

If you've been unable to apply for or reconfirm your entitlement to 30 hours childcare or Tax-Free Childcare within the deadlines set by HMRC due to technical issues, you may be able to claim compensation.

As with the existing 15 hours entitlement for 3 and 4 year olds, children become eligible for the extended entitlement from the dates shown in the table below providing they have a valid eligibility code.

If eligible for the 30 hours childcare, also known as the ‘extended entitlement', the 1140 hours of funded childcare can be taken across the year of entitlement, either in term times only or ‘stretched' across the year for example.

• up to 30 hours per week across 38 weeks per year (term time offer)
• up to 22 hours per week across 51 weeks of the year (‘stretched offer').

You will need to discuss the hours funded daily with your chosen provider to jointly agree the most appropriate length of time in consideration of your child's well-being. The government’s set maximum session length of 10 hours is unchanged.

You can split the entitlement between multiple providers, though no more than two sites in one day. You may find that your provider is going to be working in partnership with another to enable you to use the full 30 hours.  

Families with a working parent who is on temporary leave from work, such as maternity leave or statutory sick pay, are still considered to be in work and will be eligible for the 30 hours childcare if they meet all the criteria.

If either or both of the child's parents stop work at any point, after a short ‘grace period’ to support you to find a new job, the child will stop being eligible for the additional 15 hours funded childcare. This also applies to other changes to circumstances which affect eligibility. See table below:

Foster carers may be eligible for the extended entitlement for their own children and also claim the 30 hours childcare for children who they foster, where the foster parent(s) are engaged in paid work outside of their fostering responsibilities. Foster parents should contact their social worker to enquire about this.

Each provider, under the SEND Code of Practice must provide information about how they support children with SEND.

Information can be found on each providers individual service details under the `SEND Local Offer' tab.

Use the Family Information Directory to search for local early years and childcare providers.

If you need help finding childcare or accessing childcare funding, contact the Family Information Service on 01202 093131 or email familyinformation@bcpcouncil.gov.uk and we'll be happy to help.