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30 hours funded childcare
7. Access to funded childcare
The total hours that you can access across a year are shown below. You should speak to your childcare provider about how they offer the funded hours and think about what works for you.
| 15 hours funded childcare (all 3 and 4 year olds) |
30 hours funded childcare (15 hours funded plus additional 15 hours for eligible families) |
|---|---|
| 570 hours per year | 1,140 hours per year |
| 15 hours per week over 38 weeks | 30 hours a week over 38 weeks |
| 12 hours per week over 47.5 weeks | 24 hours a week over 47.5 weeks |
| 11.17 hours per week over 51 weeks | 22.35 hours over 51 weeks |
Please note: Childcare providers may choose to offer the funded hours in different ways and may not be able to be fully flexible. In some cases childcare providers may not able to offer all of the funded hours on the days or times you need them.
You can choose to access your funded childcare with different providers – this will help you to find a childcare solution that works for you. Settings that only operate term time will often work in partnership with settings operating all year round so you can split the funded hours between different providers across a day, week or year to meet your needs.
Speak to your childcare provider to find out how you can take up the funded hours and if/how they work in partnership with other settings, if the provider is unable to meet your specific childcare requirements.
If you find it difficult to access the childcare provision you need, contact our Family Information Service and they will discuss your options and help find a solution that helps.
The hours should be free to access
Both the 15 hours and 30 hours funded childcare should be free to access. That means that if you only want to access the funded hours you should not have to pay for any additional services or hours that you don’t want or need. This is often described as conditions. Providers are not allowed to place conditions on parents who only want to access a funded place.
Example 1 – meals and snacks
If a childcare provider offers a lunch as part of their package they have the right to charge for this service. You should however be given the choice to make an alternative arrangement if you do not want to pay for this as it is an additional service. In most cases this would mean your child taking a packed lunch instead of paying for lunch. This would avoid any additional charge and allow a parent to access their 30 hours without incurring any additional costs to access their place.
Example 2 - paying for additional hours
Childcare providers are not allowed to place a condition on parents to make them pay for additional hours if they do not want to access them. If you just want to access 30 hours a week, there should be no requirement for you to purchase additional hours at the setting if you do not need them. This means there should be no extra cost to accessing the funded hours that you want to access.
Example 3 – lunchtimes and artificial breaks
Parents who are eligible and want to access the 30 hours should not be required to pay for a lunch time session if they are not able to collect their child in between the morning and afternoon sessions. Care over the lunch time period should be included in the funded hours, as it is difficult for working parents to manage this time.
Charged sessions should be at the start or end of the day to give greater flexibility to parents managing their childcare arrangements around working hours and other commitments.