Free Entitlement / Funded Hours

All three-and-four-year-olds are entitled to 15 hours childcare per week until they start a school reception class – regardless of earnings status or family circumstances. Some 2 year olds may be entitled to free childcare hours.

You will not be expected to pay for your 15 or 30 free hours. This is paid to the provider (Mickley First School) directly by the local council.

If your child starts mid-way through a School term it may be too late for us to claim your free hours. We would let you know if this is applicable at the time you request your child’s start date. You can either hold off and start your child in line with the next term so that your free hours become available to Mickley to claim, or you can choose to start your child mid-way through the term and pay for their sessions until their free hours become available the following term. This is completely your choice. The hours are charged weekly and can be paid via our online app MCAS, or by cash at the School Office.

Reconfirming your Free Hours

You MUST reconfirm your free hours and tax free childcare code every 3 months with the Government or you may lose your entitlement for a period of time. This is your responsibility and not that of the childcare provider so please ensure that you set up a reminder in your diary/phone to do this. Full information can be found here. Remember to log in to your childcare account on GOV.UK to check when your reconfirmation dates are, so that you can renew your code on time. You will also receive reminders from HMRC when it is due. If you have not received a reminder, please check your junk mail folder. If you are unable to renew your code by your reconfirmation deadline, you may be able to retain your child’s childcare place for a short period; this is known as a grace period. Your provider will be able to tell you if you are in a grace period. For universal entitlement (15 hours for all three-and-four-year-olds) and for the two-year-old entitlement for families receiving some additional forms of government support (15 hours), once eligible, you remain eligible. For the working entitlements only (i.e. the additional 15 on top of the universal entitlement), you are required to log in to your Government Gateway account every 3 months to reconfirm you meet the working parent criteria. If you fail to do this, or no longer meet the criteria, you may lose the entitlement.