30 hours of funded early education and childcare per week

You, and any partner, must be working and each expect to earn (on average) at least £195 per week (equal to 16 hours at the National Minimum or Living Wage).  

If you, or your partner, are on maternity, paternity or adoption leave, or you're unable to work because you are disabled or have caring responsibilities, you could still be eligible. 

You can't get the 30 hours of funded childcare if either you, or your partner, each individually expect to earn £100,000 or more. 

Check if you may be eligible on the Best Start in Life website.

You must apply directly to His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC)  not the Local Authority or the childcare provider. 

The following slides provide a step-by-step guide to the application process. 

In order to apply you will need the following information to hand for you and (if relevant) your partner: 

• your National Insurance Number (N.I.N)
• if you're self-employed, your Unique Taxpayer Reference 
• the date you started, or are due to start work 
• details of any other government support you get 

Note:  If you are also applying for Tax-Free Childcare, you will only apply to HMRC once for both schemes.

You can apply from the term before turning 9 month old. 

Your child turns 9 months old between 1 September to 31 December: 

Your child turns 9 months old between 1 January to 31 March:  

Your child turns 9 months old between 1 April to 31 August: 

Note:       

• You can apply outside of these recommended dates but you might not receive your code in time.

• You must have a valid code by the end of the month before a new term starts.

• You have to reconfirm your eligibility every 3 months. If you apply more than 3 months before the term starts, you’ll have to reconfirm your eligibility in your account in order to keep your code valid.

If eligible, HMRC will set up a secure account for parents and the parent will receive an eligibility code to their secure account. 

Multiple birth siblings will each have their own code.

Note: Please note that if you are eligible, you will have to reconfirm your eligibility every 3 months to keep your extended entitlement active.

Parents will take their code to an approved childcare provider (nursery or childminder) of their choice. 

Your early years provider will also need to see a copy of your child’s birth certificate (if not already provided) and will ask you to sign a parental declaration form. 

Your childcare provider will then validate your code and allocate your place. 

The 30 hours government-funded entitlement can used at any provider that are registered to accept these hours, such as: 

• nursery classes in primary schools 
• private nursery schools 
• private or voluntary pre-schools or playgroups 
• private or voluntary day nurseries 
• nursery units of independent schools 
• childminders 

The map below shows all nursery settings within Kensington and Chelsea. Those in colour are currently registered to offer* (subject to availability) the funded hours for eligible working parents. Please see also the colour key which indicates the entrance age at each setting. Those in grey do not currently offer the funded hours.

The Family Information Service aim to keep this map as up-to-date as possible. However, if you spot any errors, please do contact the team.

You can also find out about local Childminders that offer these entitlement on this link.

Note: Although every effort has been made to ensure this list is up-to-date providers may change their offer at any point. Please do check with providers to confirm their current offer.
Alternatively, if your preferred provider is not on the funded provider list, we would encourage you to contact them directly in case this is something they are able to offer.

There is a “grace period” – this means your child will be able to keep their place for a short period. 

Once the “grace period” has lapsed and if your child is 3 or 4 years old, your child will be entitled to the universal 15 hour entitlement.  

Contact the 'Best Start in Life' helpline (which should also be used if you have any queries): 
 
Tel: 0300 123 4097  

Does my child have to take up the full 30 hours?

It is the parents’ choice whether you wish to take up the full extended entitlement and this should be discussed with your chosen provider.  You may be attending a provider who provides all year round care and therefore the entitlement will be stretched over the full number of weeks that the provider operates.

Can I share my 30 hours across more than one childcare provider?

You can use the additional 15 hours a week for your child to attend a breakfast club, after school club or with a childminder.

How flexibly can I use my 30 hours childcare and can I use it across more than one provider?

Your child is entitled to access up to 30 hours a week for 38 weeks of the year, which is equivalent of a total of 1140 hours per year.  This entitlement can be stretched over the full number of weeks a provider is open.  You may be able to choose a different pattern of attendance depending on which school / childcare provider you choose to use.

There are some conditions related to flexibility

• no session is to be longer than 10 hours

• no minimum session length (subject to the requirements of registration on the Ofsted Early Years Register)

• not before 6am or after 8pm

• Your first choice of school/childcare provider might not be able to offer the full 30 hours.  In that case you can nominate up to three childcare providers for the delivery of their entitlement, but the government has set a maximum of two sites that can be used in a single day to deliver the childcare.

• You are also able to use the 15 hours’ extra hours before and after school and during school holidays, again depending on which school / childcare provider may offer this and you choose to use (including childminders).

Do all school and childcare providers have to deliver the 30 hours free childcare?

It is not the law nor compulsory for schools or childcare providers to offer the additional 15 hours over and above the current 15 hours’ entitlement for all 3 and 4 year olds.  It is the school / childcare providers’ individual choice whether they provide places for the additional 15 hours, not the choice of the Royal Borough.

The local authority has a duty to ensure your child can access a place but such places cannot be guaranteed at a particular provider.

The local authority provides support and guidance to schools and providers to enable them to do so if they wish.

There may be good reasons why the School/ Provider does not offer the additional 15 hours:

• They may not have any spare nursery places for 3 & 4 year olds or the capacity to create new places or operate for longer hours.

• Some schools / childcare providers that already offer a flexible choice for parents may review what they currently provide and feel the impact of changing what they offer to include the additional 15 hours free childcare would be detrimental to their current service.

• There may be a cost / sustainability factor for them to take into consideration.

Any provider wishing to participate in the extended entitlement will be encouraged to do so and will be added to the directory of participating providers.