Funded Placements: Eligibility

There are various types of Local Authority funding available, based on certain eligibility criteria. Children may also be eligible for extra payments depending on their circumstances. Guardians need to apply for funding, and renew their application every three months, but childminders must check their eligibility before confirming any funded placements.

Working Parent funding types require parents to make an application, which is processed by HMRC. Eligibility for these funding types is based on household income, child age, and a few other factors. Full criteria can be found here: it can be useful to know a bit about this, but it's not up to you or tiney to say whether a family's circumstances may fit these criteria.

Another funding type is available to 2-year-olds whose families receive extra support: more information can be found here, and applications must be made via the Local Authority. Processes may differ between LAs.

Universal funding for 3&4-year-olds is the only funding type which doesn't require application: all 3- and 4-year-olds in England are entitled to this.

Children can start using funding the term after they reach the relevant age for each type of funding. If they have a birthday in the middle of a term, they will move to the next age bracket from the next term.

Here are the eligible date of birth ranges for the current and upcoming terms:

For all funding types except Universal, families must make their applications before each term's cutoff date (below). Families can apply for 9-23-month-old funding from the time their child is 23 weeks old, and for 2-year-old Additional Support funding from the time their child is 1 year and 10 months old.

Families must renew their eligibility every three months. HMRC will send them reminders about this, but you should also remind them in plenty of time before the beginning of the next term.

For all Working Parent funding types, parents will receive an 11-digit code to give to their childcare provider if their application is successful. This is a unique code per child and will remain the same until the child starts school.

The code must be valid on or before each term's cutoff date in order to be used that term, even if care begins later on in the term.

The cutoff dates are:

You'll need the funding code and the National Insurance number of the parent who made the application, in order to verify their eligibility. When you create or update a funded contract, you'll be prompted to enter the code and NI number as part of the process.

You must also make sure you see an identity document for the child (e.g. their birth certificate) to verify their date of birth. You do not need to show this to tiney.

For Universal funding, no application or code is necessary: the only documents that may be required are the child's proof of date of birth, and parental proof of address.

For 2-year-old Additional Support funding, the process varies between Local Authorities, but parents are always required to provide their childcare provider with evidence of their child’s eligibility. This may be in the form of a code, a Golden Ticket, or other documentation as specified by the local authority.

If a child attends a childcare provider located in a different local authority than where the child lives, evidence of eligibility may be required from both local authorities to guarantee the placement.

Occasionally families may submit an application on time but not receive their code until after the cutoff date for the term: this usually happens when an application is submitted close to the deadline. It may also be the case that the family have not renewed the code in time, or they applied too late.

If the code's start date is after the relevant cutoff date, it cannot be used for that term.

If the family applied on time and believe they should be entitled to funding this term, they can submit an appeal to HMRC, but funding cannot be used in the meantime. Some LAs may backdate funding in the event of a successful appeal, so this is something you should check with your LA. You may choose to ask the family to pay for childcare in the meantime, and then refund them for care which is retroactively covered by funding after a successful appeal.

There are two supplementary payment types which children may be eligible for, depending on their circumstances. Both must be applied for, and further information can be found here.