30 Hours for working parents

Since September 2025, working parents in England can get up to 30 hours of funded childcare a week, over 38 weeks of the year, from when their child is 9 months old until they start school.

To qualify, you and your partner, if you have one, must each expect to earn at least the equivalent of 16 hours a week at the National Minimum Wage or Living Wage over the next 3 months. Neither of you can have an adjusted net income over £100,000 a year. There are extra rules for some families, for example parents on leave, self-employed parents and carers, so check your own situation on GOV.UK.

You can apply from when your child is 23 weeks old. Your hours start the term after your child turns 9 months old, or the term after you apply if that is later. You’ll need your National Insurance number (and your partner’s, if you have one), plus your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) if you’re self-employed.

Your child turns 9 months between	Apply by	Hours can start from
1 September and 31 December	31 December	1 January
1 January and 31 March	31 March	1 April
1 April and 31 August	31 August	1 September

You apply online through a childcare account run by HMRC, the same account used for Tax-Free Childcare. You’ll find out if you’re eligible as part of your application. If you have any problems with your code or application, call the Childcare Service helpline on 0300 123 4097.

Apply for 30 hours on GOV.UK

Once you have your code
If you’re eligible you’ll get an 11-digit code. Pop in to one of our nurseries with your code, your National Insurance number and your child’s date of birth, and we will verify with the Local Authority that your code is eligible to start. Space availability and code verification depending, we then may offer you a start date for your child to take up the 30 hours. If your child is under 2, ask your nearest nursery whether they have a place for their age.

Reconfirmations
You must sign in to your childcare account every 3 months to confirm your details are still up to date, even if your child has not started yet. If you don’t, your code stops being valid and you can lose your funded hours.