Extended childcare entitlement#

Official government guidance | Legislation

Program description#

Overview#

The program provides free childcare hours based on the child’s age:

  • Children aged 9 months to 2 years receive 15 hours of free childcare per week

  • Children aged 3 to 4 years receive 30 hours of free childcare per week

Eligibility requirements#

Work status#

Eligible individuals must be either employed or about to start employment. This includes those on qualifying leave types: sick, annual, shared parental, maternity, paternity, or adoption leave.

Non-working partners may qualify if they receive: incapacity benefit, severe disablement allowance, carer’s allowance, limited capability for work benefit, or contribution-based employment and support allowance.

Income requirements#

Minimum earnings thresholds (per 3 months) vary by age:

Age group

Minimum earnings

Weekly equivalent

21+

£2,380

£183

18-20

£1,788

£137

Under 18/Apprentices

£1,331

£102

These thresholds are based on national minimum wage calculations for 16 hours per week.

Maximum income limit: Adjusted net income must not exceed £100,000 per year.

Additional rules#

Income assessment#

The program offers flexible income assessment:

  • Combines multiple income sources

  • Allows annual income averaging

  • Gives self-employed individuals choice between total or self-employment income

Certain types of income are excluded from calculations: dividends, interest, property income, and pension payments.

Implementation#

The extended childcare entitlement program is modeled through several interconnected components:

1. Parameter definition#

Located in parameters/gov/dfe/extended_childcare_entitlement/, key parameters include:

2. Income assessment#

Implemented in extended_childcare_entitlement_meets_income_requirements.py:

  • Calculates total eligible income from specified sources

  • Converts yearly income to quarterly periods

  • Applies minimum wage thresholds based on work hours

  • Checks against maximum income limit

Example table:

Child age

Is compulsory school age

Weekly hours entitlement

1

False

15

3

False

30

4

False

30

5

True

0

3. Work condition verification#

Handled by extended_childcare_entitlement_work_condition.py:

  • Verifies employment status

  • Handles special cases for:

    • Single parents (must be working)

    • Couples (both working or one working with partner qualifying for disability benefits)

    • Carers (considers UC Carer Element)

  • Includes disability-based eligibility checks using defined criteria

Example table:

Adult age

Quarterly earnings

Is over £100k

Meets minimum earnings

Is income eligible

22

£2,500

False

True

True

19

£1,500

False

False

False

35

£10,000

True

True

False

18

£1,400

False

True

True

4. Overall eligibility determination#

Managed by extended_childcare_entitlement_eligible.py:

  • Combines results from income and work condition checks

  • Applies eligibility rules at the benefit unit level

  • Ensures all adult members (except children) meet requirements

  • Returns final boolean eligibility determination

Example table:

Family composition

Is partner 1 working

Is partner 2 working

Has qualifying disability

Meets work condition

Single

True

N/A

N/A

True

Couple

True

True

False

True

Couple

True

False

True

True

Couple

False

False

True

False

5. Entitlement calculation#

Final calculations in extended_childcare_entitlement.py:

  • Determines weekly hours based on child’s age

  • Applies appropriate funding rates

  • Calculates total annual entitlement value

  • Considers:

    • Child’s age for hours allocation

    • Applicable expense rates

    • Number of weeks per year

    • Multiple children in the benefit unit

Example table:

Child age

Weekly hours

Funding rate

Annual entitlement

2

15

£8.28

£4,719.6

3

30

£5.88

£6,703.2