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Help and support with cost of living

Free childcare funding for two year olds for working parents

From September 2025, free childcare has been expanded for working families of younger children so they can access 30 hours per week.

Eligible working parents of three and four-year-olds already get 30 hours a week of free childcare.

From September 2025 eligible working parents of two-year-olds will be able to access 30 hours childcare support. 

What makes you eligible?

  • both parents are working or one parent is working in lone parent families. This is defined as earning the equivalent of 16 hours per week on national minimum wage/national living wage, but less than £100,000 per year. This applies for self-employed and zero-hour contracts.
  • both parents are employed but one or both of them are temporarily away from the workplace on parental, maternity, paternity or adoption leave.
  • both parents are employed but one or both of them are temporarily away from the workplace on statutory sick pay.
  • one parent is employed and one parent has substantial caring responsibilities based on specific benefits received for caring.
  • one parent is employed and one parent is disabled or incapacitated based on specific benefits.

This means your child will need to have reached their second birthday on or before 31 March and you must apply by 31 March to access the free childcare from 1 April. 

How to apply?

You can apply for your code up to 16 weeks before your baby turns nine months old. 

Apply online with Best Start in Life

You need to apply online before the deadline to receive a code to give to your childcare provider. The deadline is the day before the new term begins, but we encourage you to apply earlier and recommend applying at least six weeks before the deadline. Some providers may ask for codes before the deadline, so we recommend you speak to your provider to find out if this is the case. The deadlines are:

If my child turns nine months old between I can access 30 funded hours from And I need to apply by
1 January to 31 March Term starting on or after 1 April 31 March
1 April to 31 August Term starting on or after 1 September 31 August
1 September to 31 December Term starting on or after 1 January 31 December

What happens next?

Once you have applied, you will receive an 11-digit code to give to your childcare provider to access the entitlements.

Codes need to be reconfirmed every three months. 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 time for you to reconfirm. 

Further details will be available on the Best Start in Life website.

Funding for two year old places for families receiving additional forms of financial support

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