Nicola Sellick

From doing some more reading of the T&Cs, I think the person I spoke with today is correct. This is from the T&Cs: “ You will be able to take up your free hours from the term after you meet all the eligibility criteria for the entitlement you are applying for. These terms begin on 1 January, 1 April and 1 September.” If you become eligible from 6 April (i.e. 2025/26 income below £100k) then you can claim from 1 Sep term start date. Seems unfair and for the sake of 5 days we’re missing out on £2k of funding. Tax legislation allows for other items to be treated as co-terminus with the fiscal year (partnership and self-employment profits running to 31 March for example) so not sure why the rules are different here, apart from the obvious cost-saving exercise! I guess the benefit will be if you’re back in the position of earning over £100k in a later tax year then you’ll benefit for the term starting 1 April that rolls into that particular tax year.

I spoke with someone today and they (confidently!) told me that because the tax year ends on 5 April which is after the start of the Summer term, we can’t apply for a code until 6 April for the Autumn term which starts 1 September. This means we’re going to lose out on 5 months’ of funding which is just annoying. He suggested I made a complaint via the website. I’m going to apply again now, wait to get the letter confirming we don’t qualify, then contact the Ombudsman. Be interested to hear if anyone is successful!

We are looking to apply for the code for the Free Childcare For Working Parents for the term starting 1 April 2025, as for the 2025/26 tax year mine and my husband’s adjusted earnings will both be under £100k. We are not eligible for 2024/25. The application form asks if our “current year” adjusted income is less than £100k, but it isn’t; but it will be from April 2025 when we are looking for the code for. Can anyone offer any guidance on how to apply please? The window closes on 31 March 2025 for codes from 1 April 2025.