Expanded free childcare for thousands of parents from Sunday, September 1 2024

Millions of parents will soon be able to access up to 15 hours of free childcare. From Sunday, September 1, expansions to the government free childcare scheme will be implemented, allowing parents of children from the age of nine months to two years to access the scheme for the first time.

In order to qualify for the free childcare, parents must be either employed or claiming certain benefits while earning a specific threshold which may vary depending on your age. Currently, the earning thresholds are:

£2,380 for those aged 21 or over

£1,788 for those aged 18 to 20

£1,331 for those under the age of 18 or currently on an apprenticeship

However, it’s important to note self-employed parents who only started their business less than a year ago are not required to meet the threshold in order to qualify.

The application window for this round of free childcare has already closed, with eligible parents needing to have applied by August 31, millions of parents can still complete an application for the next round which will start on January 1, 2025.

The current expansion of free childcare is part of a wider initiative to make childcare provisions more widely available to working parents. An additional expansion in September 2025 will allow eligible parents to get up to 30 hours of free childcare for kids aged from nine months.

Parents living in England will need a special code in order to take advantage of the free childcare hours. Applications also require a childcare account which can be made on gov.uk here.

Once this is done, you can apply for the code through the Government Gateway here. Once you have secured a code you must share it with your approved childcare provider along with your child’s date of birth and your