Free childcare and Tax-Free Childcare: what you can get

Working parents in England can usually get 30 hours of free childcare a week for children aged 9 months to 4 years, at a registered nursery, childminder or school. Tax-Free Childcare is a separate scheme that works across the UK: you pay into an online childcare account and the government adds £2 for every £8, up to £2,000 a year for each child. The two schemes share the same work and earnings rules, so if you qualify for one you'll usually qualify for the other, and you can use both at the same time.

The part that takes planning is timing. You can apply from when your baby is 23 weeks old, but the free hours only start on 1 January, 1 April or 1 September, and each start date has its own deadline. If you're on maternity, paternity or shared parental leave, the date you go back to work also decides which term you can start in.

The free hours cover 30 hours a week for 38 weeks of the year. Tax-Free Childcare can then help with what's left: extra hours, the remaining weeks, meals and nappies, or a nursery place before your baby is old enough for the free hours. If you get Universal Credit, you'll need to choose between Tax-Free Childcare and Universal Credit's own help with childcare costs, because you can't have both.

How many free childcare hours you can get in England

It depends on your child's age and, for the 30 hours, on whether you work. All the free hours are for approved childcare only: a registered nursery, childminder, playscheme or school.

30 hours a week for working parents

Through Free Childcare for Working Parents, you can get 30 free hours a week for 38 weeks of the year, from the term after your baby turns 9 months until they start in reception class. That adds up to 1,140 hours a year. Some providers let you take fewer hours a week over more weeks, which can help if you need care through the school holidays, so ask yours whether they offer it.

15 hours for every 3 and 4-year-old

All 3 and 4-year-olds in England can get 570 free hours a year, usually taken as 15 hours a week for 38 weeks, whether or not you work. The hours start from the term after your child's third birthday, on 1 January, 1 April or 1 September, and stop when they start in reception class. If you qualify as working parents, your 3 or 4-year-old gets 30 hours a week in total rather than 15.

Free hours for 2-year-olds if you get certain benefits

Working parents of 2-year-olds can already get the 30 hours above. Early Learning for 2 year olds is a separate offer of 15 free hours a week for 38 weeks, and you can get it if any of these apply:

• you get Universal Credit and your household income is £15,400 a year or less after tax, not counting benefits
• you get Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance or the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
• your child has an education, health and care (EHC) plan or gets Disability Living Allowance
• your child is looked after by the council, or has left care under an adoption, special guardianship or child arrangements order

You apply through the early years team or Family Information Service at your local council, from 1 September, 1 January or 1 April depending on when your child turns 2. Taking up the place doesn't affect your benefits. If you work and also qualify as working parents, you can get 30 hours in total, 15 through each scheme. Apply for Early Learning for 2 year olds first, then for the working-parent hours, and you keep the Early Learning hours even if you later stop qualifying as working parents. If your immigration status means you can't claim benefits, different household income limits apply, and your council can check them with you.

What nurseries can still charge for

The funded hours themselves are free, but providers can ask you to pay for extras such as meals, nappies, trips and any hours on top of the free ones. These have to be optional. If you'd rather not pay, the provider should agree an alternative, such as you bringing food or a supply of nappies, and you still get the free hours. If a provider insists, speak to your local council. Asking for a list of extra charges before you accept a place saves surprises on the first bill.

How Tax-Free Childcare works

Your Tax-Free Childcare account is the same online childcare account you use for the free hours. You pay money in by Direct Debit, standing order or bank transfer, and for every £8 you pay in, the government adds £2, which covers 20% of the bill. The money usually shows up within one working day, with the top-up added at the same time, and you then pay your provider from the account.

The top-up is capped at £500 every 3 months for each child, or £2,000 a year. For a disabled child the cap is £1,000 every 3 months, up to £4,000 a year, and the extra can pay for more hours or help your provider buy specialist equipment such as mobility aids.

How much you get back

On a £250 bill, you pay in £200 and the government adds £50. To use the whole £500 top-up in a 3-month period, you'd pay in £2,000 and spend £2,500 on childcare, about £833 a month. Above that, the rest of the bill gets no top-up. Each child has their own cap, so two children in childcare can bring in up to £1,000 every 3 months.

What you can pay for

You can use it for registered childminders, nurseries and nannies, for after-school, breakfast and holiday clubs, and for extras such as meals, nappies and trips when your provider supplies them. Your child is covered until the September after their 11th birthday, or their 16th if they're disabled. The provider has to be registered and signed up to Tax-Free Childcare, so check with them before you apply.

Using it with the 30 free hours

Whatever the free hours don't cover can go through your childcare account with the 20% top-up: extra hours, the weeks outside the 38, meals and nappies. It also helps before the free hours begin: if you go back to work when your baby is 6 months old, Tax-Free Childcare can help with the nursery fees until the free hours start.

When you apply for the free hours, HMRC also checks whether you can get Tax-Free Childcare, so one application usually covers both. If you only want Tax-Free Childcare, for example because your baby is too young for the free hours or you live outside England, you can apply at any time, unless you're starting work, going back to work or on parental leave. In that case your start or return date sets when you can apply: from 1 January for a return between 1 February and 30 April, from 1 April for 1 May to 30 September, and from 1 September for 1 October to 31 January.

Tax-Free Childcare or Universal Credit childcare?

You can't get Tax-Free Childcare while you're claiming Universal Credit, so families on Universal Credit have to choose. Universal Credit can pay back up to 85% of childcare costs, up to £1,071.09 a month for one child or £1,836.16 for two or more, until 31 August after your child's 16th birthday. It works the other way round, though: you pay the provider first, report the cost with proof in your online account, and Universal Credit adds its share to your normal payment. If you're starting a job, increasing your hours or going back after parental leave, you can ask for help with upfront costs such as a deposit, and your first month may be paid straight to the provider without you paying it back.

Which works out better depends on your situation, so put your figures into GOV.UK's childcare calculator first. If Tax-Free Childcare comes out ahead, wait for a decision on your application before you cancel Universal Credit. The free hours work alongside either scheme.

Who qualifies for 30 hours and Tax-Free Childcare

The free hours for working parents and Tax-Free Childcare share almost the same rules. If you have a partner, you both need to meet them.

Working, part-time or on leave

You each need to be working, as an employee, self-employed or a company director, or about to start a new job. Time off still counts: you can usually qualify while you're on sick leave, annual leave, maternity, paternity, shared parental or adoption leave, getting Statutory Neonatal Care Pay or on Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave.

If one of you isn't working, you may still qualify as long as the other works and the one at home is eligible for Carer's Allowance (or Carer Support Payment in Scotland), Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance, contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance or National Insurance credits. For the free hours, carer's leave and the limited capability for work or carer's element of Universal Credit count too.

How much you need to earn

Part-time work is fine, as long as you each expect to earn at least this much before tax over the next 3 months:

• £2,643.68 if you're 21 or over (£203.36 a week)
• £2,256.80 if you're 18 to 20 (£173.60 a week)
• £1,664 if you're under 18 or an apprentice (£128 a week)

That's the same as working 16 hours a week at the National Minimum Wage or Living Wage for your age. Each of you is measured against your own age band, so a couple aged 19 and 22 need £2,256.80 and £2,643.68.

If your pay is irregular, or you're self-employed and the next 3 months look quiet, you can use your expected average over the tax year instead: £10,574.72 a year meets the test if you're 21 or over. If you started your business less than 12 months ago, you can earn less and still qualify. Earnings from more than one job count together, but dividends, interest, income from property and pensions don't count.

The £100,000 limit

Neither scheme is open to you if you or your partner expect your adjusted net income to be over £100,000 for the current tax year, including any foreign income. It's each person's own income that counts, not the household total: two parents with adjusted net incomes of £90,000 each can qualify, while one parent at £105,000 rules the family out. Adjusted net income is your taxable income minus some tax reliefs, and pension contributions and Gift Aid donations bring it down. It's the same figure used for the High Income Child Benefit Charge, which our Child Benefit guide explains.

Other conditions

You also need:

• a National Insurance number, and one for your partner too
• British or Irish citizenship, settled or pre-settled status (or an application waiting for a decision), or permission to access public funds
• your child to usually live with you

Tax-Free Childcare also rules out a child you foster and families where either parent gets a childcare bursary or grant. Foster carers can still get the free hours if they work outside their fostering role, but they apply through their social worker and local authority rather than online.

When and how to apply for 30 hours free childcare

You can apply from when your baby is 23 weeks old, and it's worth doing early. The hours start at the beginning of the term after your baby turns 9 months, and each start date has a deadline:

Your provider confirms the exact start date. Don't leave the application to the last week: you usually hear straight away, but extra checks can take 10 days or longer.

Going back to work after maternity or paternity leave

If you're on leave, your return date matters as well. The free hours can start from a term if you're back at work by the end of that term's first month:

• back between 1 October and 31 January: hours from 1 January, apply between 1 September and 31 December
• back between 1 February and 30 April: hours from 1 April, apply between 1 January and 31 March
• back between 1 May and 30 September: hours from 1 September, apply between 1 April and 31 August

The same windows apply if you're starting a new job. Your baby still needs to have turned 9 months in time, so the hours start from whichever date comes later. Paid holiday counts as being back at work, so taking the paid holiday you've built up at the end of your maternity leave can move you into an earlier window. With shared parental leave, both parents need to be back, or due back, by 30 September, 31 January or 30 April for the autumn, spring or summer term.

For example, a baby born on 15 June 2026 turns 9 months on 15 March 2027, so the earliest start is 1 April 2027. If the parent on leave goes back in June 2027, the free hours wait until 1 September. Going back by 30 April, or switching to paid holiday by then, brings the start forward to 1 April, with the application made between 1 January and 31 March.

Worked example: when the free hours can start depends on your baby's 9-month date and when you go back to work.

If you're still choosing your dates, our guides to maternity leave and pay and paternity leave and pay cover the notice you need to give and how your pay changes through the year.

Applying and getting your childcare code

You apply on GOV.UK by setting up a childcare account, and it usually takes about 20 minutes. Have these ready for you and your partner:

• your National Insurance numbers
• your Unique Taxpayer Reference, if you're self-employed
• your baby's UK birth certificate reference number, if you have one
• the date you started or will start work (an approximate date is fine if it was more than 3 months ago)

Your partner goes on the application if you're married or in a civil partnership and live together, or live together as if you were. Company directors without regular PAYE records may be asked for evidence of their income, such as payslips, bank statements or invoices.

If you're approved, HMRC texts or emails to say an 11-digit childcare code is waiting in your account. Give it to your provider with your National Insurance number and your child's date of birth. If you've heard nothing 10 days after applying, contact the Childcare Service helpline.

Reconfirming every 3 months

Both schemes need a regular check-in: sign in to your childcare account every 3 months and confirm your details are still up to date. That keeps your free hours code valid and the Tax-Free Childcare top-ups coming. If you applied more than 3 months before the place starts, you'll need to reconfirm before it begins as well. A calendar reminder set on the day you apply makes it easy to keep on top of.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

The free hours above are for England only. Tax-Free Childcare works the same way across the UK, but Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own schemes for funded hours and extra help.

Scotland

Children aged 3 to 5 can get up to 1,140 hours a year of funded early learning and childcare, which is about 30 hours a week in term time or 22 hours a week if spread across the year. It's free to you, some 2-year-olds can get it too, and places come through your local council, at council nurseries or at private nurseries and childminders that work with it. Many council nurseries start children at the beginning of a term set by their third birthday (a child who turns 3 between March and August starts in August), and mygov.scot links to each council's page.

Wales

The Childcare Offer for Wales gives eligible parents of 3 and 4-year-olds up to 30 hours a week for up to 48 weeks a year: at least 10 hours of nursery education plus up to 20 hours of funded childcare. Each parent needs to live in Wales, earn at least the equivalent of 16 hours a week at the National Minimum Wage or Living Wage (or be on a further or higher education course of at least 10 weeks) and have a gross income of £100,000 or less. Wales counts gross income, before deductions such as pension contributions and salary sacrifice, rather than England's adjusted net income. You apply for the childcare through the national digital service and for the nursery education hours through your council, and GOV.WALES is taking applications now for funded childcare from January 2027.

Northern Ireland

Tax-Free Childcare works on the same terms, and the Northern Ireland Childcare Subsidy Scheme aims to cut eligible working parents' childcare costs by 15% for each qualifying child. You have to be claiming Tax-Free Childcare to get it, and Universal Credit claimants aren't eligible. If you're not sure which help applies to you, nidirect lists the options and the Make the Call service can check for you.

Tax-Free Childcare and free hours FAQ