Childcare: Fees and Charges
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has undertaken an equality or impact assessment of the effect of termly childcare funding eligibility dates on parents returning to work from maternity leave; and if she will publish the findings.
Answered by Paul Waugh
It is our ambition that all families have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our plan for change.
Children become eligible for the working parent entitlement from 1 September, 1 January or 1 April, the term after they reach the relevant age and meet relevant eligibility criteria.
Depending on when a child is born and when the eligibility criteria are met, there will be differing periods to wait until the relevant termly date.
Termly deadlines enable local authorities and childcare providers to better plan and ensure sufficient early years places are available for parents each term, as there are clear periods for when children are likely to enter into a place.
Children born in April, May or June 2025 will have qualified to access the offer from April 2026. Due to the termly deadlines, children who were born in July and August 2025 will not be able to access the offer until September 2026. We cannot determine which parents of those children born in those cohorts were eligible as we do not hold information on income-based eligibility.
As announced in the Autumn Budget 2025, the department is leading a cross-government review into the early education and childcare support that is provided by different parts of government. The Review is supporting the vision for early education and care set out in the publication ‘Giving every child the best start in life’, one that strengthens children’s life chances across the country, supports parents’ work choices, is simpler and easier to use, and improves access.
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