Childcare grants

Free childcare places for eligible two year olds

Check if you qualify

Families earning less than £16,190, with a two year old, could get up to 15 hours of free childcare per week at a day nursery, pre-school, childminder or in some school’s nursery class.

Two year olds with an education and health care plan can also benefit.

Criteria

Your two year old can get free childcare if you have, or are on:

  • Income Support
  • income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA)
  • income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
  • Universal Credit
  • tax credits and you have an annual income of under £16,190 before tax
  • the guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
  • support through part six of the Immigration and Asylum Act
  • the Working Tax Credit four-week run on (the payment you get when you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit)

Find out more about free childcare places for eligible two year olds

 


Free early education for three and four year olds

All children aged three and four years old are eligible for free early education for up to 15 hours a week, for up to 38 weeks a year, or 570 hours a year if ‘stretched’. This is known as ‘universal entitlement.’

The Government is increasing this to 30 hours a week (for up to 38 weeks a year) for working parents earning the equivalent of the National Minimum wage for 16 hours per week from 1 September 2017. This is known as ‘extended entitlement.’ In Plymouth, providers may offer up to 12 or 24 funded hours per week ‘stretched’ over 47.5 weeks per year.

Find out more about free early education for three and four year olds

 


Useful external links

 

Main page source: Plymouth City Council