Chesterton Playgroup

Parent Information: Funding

Calendar

EYFS

There are three types of funding:
Two year funding, 30 hour funding and 15 hour funding (click on the links to read about each one)

Two year funding
At Chesterton Playgroup we offer two year funded places. If you believe you may be entitled to two year funding please note the following:

You may be entitled to two year funding if you are in receipt of one of the following benefits:

Income Support
Income-based Job Seekers' Allowance
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
The Guaranteed element of State Pension Credit

Also: if your family receives Child Tax Credit or Working Tax Credit provided your annual household income, as assessed by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, does not exceed £16,190
You may also be entitled to two year funding if one of the following points apply:

Your child has a current statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan; or attracts Disability Living Allowance (DLA).
Two year olds currently in the care of the local authority (Looked after Children) or who have left care through special guardianship or an adoption or residence order.

How you can apply
You can check your eligibility for the funding by using the

Oxfordshire County Council Citizen Portal through the Oxfordshire County Council website. Please find the following link regarding parent information for two year funding to the Oxfordshire County Council website:

Free early education for 2 year olds

If you are entitled to the funding, you will receive a Two Year Old Funding Voucher which you must then show to the pre-school manager, Julia Shillito, when arranging your child’s early education place.

30 hour funding
Chesterton Playgroup accepts children who have the eligible 30 hour code, although the maximum you can claim at Chesterton Playgroup is 27 hours. Please see below on how to see if you can claim 30 funded hours for your child. If you think you are eligable please speak to Julia, the ppre-school manager,as soon as possible due to limited spaces available.

ELIGIBILITY
You will be eligible for the 30-hour funded childcare offer if:

You earn more than the equivalent of 16 hours at the national living wage or minimum wage per week: for example, £120 per week if you are 25 or older. There is no requirement to work a certain amount of hours per week – it is all about how much you earn. This means if you only work 10 hours a week but earn £12 per hour, you will meet the minimum earning threshold.
Apprentices are also eligible as long as they earn the equivalent to 16 hours at the apprentice minimum wage.

AND
You earn less than £100,000 per year.
This applies if you are self-employed or on a zero-hours contract and expect to meet the earning criteria on average over the three months after you have applied for the 30-hours. HMRC will look at data such as your previous earnings to consider whether you are likely to meet the criteria and may contact you for further information if they are unsure.

If you are starting up your own business, you will not be expected to meet the minimum earning criteria in your first year of trading. You will need to provide a Unique Tax Reference (UTR) number to HMRC so that they can check your income at the end of the tax year.

If you are not working but you expect to take up paid work within 14 days, you can still apply for 30 hours, as long as you expect to meet the income criteria over the coming three months.

If you are a single parent and meet the above criteria, you will be eligible for the 30 hours. If you live with a partner, you both must meet the above criteria. This still applies if one of you is not the child’s parent – for example, if you have remarried or have started living with a new partner. If you are separated/divorced from your child’s parent, the eligibility rules will only apply to the parent that the child normally lives with (and their new partner if they are part of the same household).

Exceptions
You will not have to meet the minimum earnings criteria if:

You and your partner are employed but one or both of you is temporarily away from the workplace on parental, maternity or paternity, adoption leave, or on statutory sick pay
You are employed but your partner either has substantial caring responsibilities, or is disabled or incapacitated, or vice versa (i.e. your partner is employed but you have caring responsibilities or are disabled or incapacitated). This is dependent on you or your partner being entitled to specific disability or caring benefits.

SIGNING UP FOR THE 30-HOURS
You will be able to apply for both the 30-hour offer and tax-free childcare using a single application available online via the Childcare Choices website:

To complete the application, you will need to provide details such as your name, address and national insurance number, as well as whether you expect to meet the income requirements over the next three months and whether you are in receipt of any benefits. If you live with a partner, you will need to provide the same information for them as well. This will enable HMRC to decide whether your child is eligible for the 30 hours (as well as tax-free childcare).

If you are eligible, you will be given an 11-digit code that you will need to take to Julia, the pre-school manager, along with your national insurance number and your child’s birth certificate.
You will need to reconfirm your eligibility every three months and will receive a reminder text message or email from the government before the deadline. If you give false information about your eligibility, you could be fined up to £3000.

15 FUNDED HOURS
All children are eligible for 15 hours of funding the term after their third birthday. Chesterton Playgroup allocated this to children by booking them in for two full days 9-3 and one half day (either a morning or afternoon session), parents are welcome to speak to the staff team to book in extra sessions if they wish.

Chesterton Playgroup The Village Hall Alchester Road Chesterton Oxfordshire OX26 1UN
Contact Details	Julia Shillito and Claire Hall 01869 360593 (Playgroup Manager Team) General e-mail contact admin@chestertonplaygroup.org.uk