Free education and childcare for 2-year-olds

Your 2-year-old can get free early education and childcare if you live in England and get one of the following benefits:

• Income Support
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Universal Credit - if you and your partner have a combined income from work of less than £15,400 a year after tax
• tax credits and you have an annual income of under £16,190 before tax
• the guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
• support through part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act
• the Working Tax Credit 4-week run on (the payment you get when you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit)

A child can also get free early education and childcare if any of the following apply:

• they’re looked after by a local council
• they have a current statement of special education needs (SEN) or an education, health and care (EHC) plan
• they get Disability Living Allowance
• they’ve left care under a special guardianship order, child arrangements order or adoption order

You can check eligibility via http://birmingham.gov.uk/2yearolds or alternatively the School will check once you have completed Nursery Admissions Form and will confirm whether your child is entitled to a free part-time 2 year old place.

3-4 year olds

Free 15 Hours - Part -time Place

All children in England get 570 free hours per year. It’s usually taken as 15 hours a week for 38 weeks of the year, but you can choose to take fewer hours over more weeks. You can get it from the term after your child’s third birthday.

30 Hours - Full-time Place

Extended free childcare - 30 hours for 3 and 4 year olds

ALL 3 and 4 year olds are entitled to 15 hours a week of free early learning.

From September 2017 the government committed to doubling the amount of free childcare from 15 to 30 hours a week for working parents of 3 and 4 year olds, and 15 hours for working parents of 9 months old+.

A child is entitled to 30 hours childcare the term after their third birthday or from the term after their family becomes eligible; Parents will need to confirm that they remain eligible every three months. The eligibility criteria is set out below.

• The parent of the child (and their partner where applicable) should also be in qualifying paid work. The definition of qualifying paid work is each parent or the single parent in a lone parent household will need to expect to earn the equivalent of 16 hours at the national living wage or their national minimum wage rate over the forthcoming quarter. This applies whether you are in paid employment, self employed or on zero hours contract.
• Where one or both parents are in receipt of benefits in connection with sickness or parenting, they are treated as though they are in paid work.
• Where one parent (in a couple household) is in receipt or could be entitled to be in receipt of specific benefits related to caring, incapacity for work or limited capability for work that they are treated as though they are in paid work.
• 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 in order to qualify for the extended entitlement.
• If either or both parents’ income exceeds £100,000 they will not be eligible for the extended entitlement.

Use the childcare calculator on the GOV.UK website to check what help you could get with childcare costs.Funded early education information for parents. Or visit the Childcare Choices website.

If you think that your child is eligible for a free full-time place check and register at https://childcare-support.tax.service.gov.uk/par/app/applynow Once you have registered you will be given a code which you will be required to bring to school for verification.

We warmly welcome visits to tour our provisions in order to gain an understanding of our curriculum, relationships and educational ethos. We are an inclusive provider and are experienced at providing individual support for children with a range of  special educational needs. Should you require support with your application, please do not hesitate to contact us.