Working family funded childcare – 9 months to 4 years
As of September 2025, children of eligible working families are entitled to 30 hours funded childcare per week for children aged 9 months-4 years until they start school, which is great news for working families looking to access quality childcare.
This funding is given to nurseries by the Local Authority and is applied as 30 hours for the 38 term weeks of the year across a maximum of 10 hours a day. Essentially this equates to 1,140 hours of funded childcare per academic school year (1st September – 31st August) which can be accessed on a term time only basis or all year-round to suit your family’s needs.
All Partou nurseries are proud to offer funded childcare places. We recognise that working families have varying requirements; some need year-round childcare rather than term time only and some need longer days than the 10 hours of funding per day provided by the Local Authority, so we want to help families access childcare and funding to suit their needs. We want to help you access the sessions you require and make funding as transparent as possible. This means that your 1,140 hours of Working Family Funded Childcare can be accessed in a few different ways:
| Attendance Type | How Funding is Calculated | Hours Per Week/Year |
|---|---|---|
| Term Time Only | 1,140 ÷ 38 term weeks | 30 per week, 1,140 per year |
| Year-round stretched over 51 weeks | 1,140 ÷ 51 weeks | 22.35 per week/1,140 per year |
| Stretched (52 Weeks) Year-round stretched over 52 weeks | 1,140 ÷ 52 weeks | 21.92 per week/1,140 per year |
Please note whether your funding is stretched over 51 or 52 weeks will be determined by how many weeks of the year your nursery is open for.
Funding is accessed by obtaining an Eligibility Code from your Online Childcare Account, sharing this with your nursery and then completing a Free Early Years Entitlement (FEEE) Parental Declaration form which is necessary for the Local Authority to release your child’s funding to your chosen nursery. Whilst the deadline for obtaining your code is the day before the new term starts, it is best to do this 6 weeks in advance ideally to give everyone involved in this process time to complete their part in it.
The funding year runs Autumn to August and term dates vary across Local Authorities. If you join the nursery midway through a term, the number of funded weeks left in the term will impact how your funding is applied or if you are eligible to receive this.
Here is an example of how that could work:
| Term | |||
| Autumn (Sept – Dec) | Spring (Jan-March) | Summer (April-Aug) | |
| Number of funding weeks available per the Local Authority | 14 | 11 | 13 |
| 30 hours per week stretched and delivered weekly | |||
| Child is 9 months before the start of the Autumn Term | 38 weeks x 30 hours = 1,140 hours per year, divided by 51 weeks = 22.35 funded hours per week. | ||
| Child is 9 months after the start of the Autumn Term but before the start of the Spring Term | Not Eligible | 24 weeks x 30 hours = 720 hours, divided by 35 weeks = 20.57 funded hours per week. This consists of the Spring and Summer terms (i.e. until the end of the Academic Year) divided by the 35 total weeks in the Jan – Aug period. | |
| Child is 9 months after the start of the Spring term but before the start of the Summer Term | Not Eligible | Not Eligible | 13 weeks x 30 hours = 390 hours, Divided by the 22 weeks total in the April – Aug period = 17.73 funded hours per week. |
For more information on the term duration and dates set by your Local Authority, please check your Partou Nursery page.
The 30 hours funding covers the cost of care only which is why you will see additional charges for meals and snacks, consumables, and extras on your invoice as these ensure that we are able to provide necessary items and a consistently high standard of care. You can read about these additional charges here. If you would like to opt out of these charges and discuss what alternatives may be available to you, please raise this using this feedback form and a member of the Customer Service Team will be in touch.