Gov funding for childcare on Mat leave

You're still entitled to the funding on maternity leave 🙏

As your mat leave is for a different child you can still claim the funding for your little girl xx

I’m confused on this, I’ve checked the eligibility for 30hrs funded for my litte girl to start more hours in September. I’m currently on Mat leave for my 3 month old and when I checked on the childcare choices website it implies we’re not eligible for the 30 hours but we are for the 15 hours. I’ve since had to email the nursery ahead of time to reduce her hours back down to 15 as can’t afford to pay for extra, so since I’ve been told this she’s now lost her space for anymore than 15hrs.

@Giorgia oh nooo im so sorry that this has happened to you ☹️ I had to reconfirm twice while I was on shared parental leave and had no issues however this was when my son was only eligible for the 15 hours. Does your wage drop down to the unpaid part at that point? I’m wondering if that’s a factor.. where we did shared parental leave and my other half was in the forces we were lucky that our finances didn’t change at all. It’s strange that it’s showing that on the childcare choices as on google it states that you can still claim the 30 hours and TFC whilst on mat leave.. I get if it come up for your second child as the 30 hour funding doesn’t come in until September 2025 so when I last looked the website hadnt been set up to recognise the change yet x

@Kayleigh I’m gutted as now I do think we will be eligible, I’m going back to work after 9 months which is in July so I’ll be working again by September when my daughter goes to her new nursery. I’m probably going to wait until April then check the website again as it might show from the term after she’s 3, if that’s the case I’ll try to get her hours increased. I think that’s all I can do at this point x

@Giorgia I’m not surprised, I would be too ☹️ That is so odd as there’s no reason why you can’t if you’re back at work anyway! I’m assuming your first little girl turned 3 at some point in Feb? If so you’re usually able to claim from April, my son turned 3 on the 14th Feb and we didn’t have any issues. Yeah maybe check after April as we were told by our nursery that their code automatically changes to the 30 hours but we just had to fill some forms out so that it informs the local council xx

@Kayleigh yeah she was 3 on the 11th of Feb, I can’t even remember how I got her code for the 15hrs in the first place let alone getting one for the 30hrs. I’m thinking maybe just ringing the school the nursery is a part of and explain, because I think by April the nursery places will be too full to increase her hours if I wait to see if she’s eligible then xx

@Giorgia you can view her funding code on the tax free childcare website. I don’t think you will receive a message about the 30 hour code as it stays the same but as normal should be able to claim from the term after their 3rd birthday. May be also worth looking into tax free childcare as that would be an extra 20% off your bill if both you and your other half works and earns minimum wage. Have a word with the nursery and they should be able to explain as there’s no reason why you can’t claim if your circumstances haven’t changed xx

Her 15 free hours were through a golden ticket from the government as we claim UC, we’ve never needed to look at tax free childcare so wouldn’t know where to start if I’m honest. Childcare funding can be so so confusing 🤦‍♀️ xx

@Giorgia your 3 year would be eligible for 30 hours from April this year, that’s strange it said otherwise, that’s a shame you’ve lost your space for her, the nursery should have been able to help you with it, I guess you can keep asking if there’s space or you can put her in another nursery for the other 15 hours until space frees up you can also still claim your tax free childcare on top which works out roughly 20% gain to keep costs down aswell