Walsall FIS offers up-to-date information,
advice and help on services for families in Walsall.

30 Hours Funding

Spring Term 2024 Funding Period

Headcount Day:  Thursday, 18th January 2024

The table below shows the weeks you will be funded for this funding period.

Funding Week Week Commencing
Week 1 08/01/2024
Week 2 15/01/2024
Week 3 22/01/2024
Week 4 29/01/2024
Week 5 05/02/2024
Week 6 19/02/2024
Week 7 26/02/2024
Week 8 04/03/2024
Week 9 11/03/2024
Week 10 18/03/2024

 

If you need to view the current funding timetable, you can download it here:  Funding Timetable 2023 - 2024

 

You can now find a straight forward explanation of all government childcare support on the new Childcare Choices website: www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Childcare Choices brings all the government childcare offers together for the first time, providing a simple way of seeing which schemes are available, with easy next steps to where you can find out more.
Using the website’s Childcare Calculator, you can quickly find out which of the offers are available to you and choose what works best for your family: www.gov.uk/childcare-calculator

What is available through the childcare service?

  • Tax-Free Childcare
  • Tax Free Childcare is an online payment account, topped up by the Government, which parents use solely to pay their childcare costs. For every £8 that families pay in, the Government will make a top-up payment of £2, up to a maximum of £2,000 per child per year (or £4,000 for disabled children).
  • Tax-Free Childcare will be available for children under 12 years old (under 17 years old for disabled children) and can be used to contribute towards nursery, childminder and after-school care. To be eligible, parents must be in work (including self-employment) and each earning at least £120 per week and not more than £100,000 per year. The offer will be introduced to parents with the youngest children first and gradually rolled out so that all parents will be able to apply by the end of 2017.
  • Childcare providers must have signed up to be able to receive payments from Tax-Free Childcare. Parents can check which providers in their area are ready, using the childcare provider checker: www.childcare-provider-checker.tax.service.gov.uk
  • 30 hours free childcare

30 hours childcare for three and four year olds is now available in England. This doubles the existing 15 hours currently available and could save working families up to £5,000 a year.
Parents will be able to check their eligibility and apply now using the online childcare calculator and, if eligible, submit an online application ahead of September. Once signed up, parents will receive an eligibility code to take to their childcare provider. Childcare providers will then check the code with their local authority. If eligible, parents can book their 30 hours place.

Here is a link to the online Childcare Service: https://childcare-support.tax.service.gov.uk/par/app/applynow

 

We have created a toolkit to provide you with all the information you need to know on Childcare Choices. This includes some suggested materials to help you spread the word to parents and staff: http://transfer.23red.com/public/files/3u3k-88mqpoco

Included in the toolkit you will find:

  • Information on Childcare Choices and the new offers
  • Suggested text to email to parents
  • The Childcare Choices logo
  • Some graphics and messages you can use on your social media channels
  • An A4 poster
  • An A4 information sheet for staff and parents

The Department for Education published the operational guidance to support the delivery of the 30 hours extended entitlement. The guidance can be found here - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/30-hours-free-childcare-la-and-early-years-provider-guide. This builds on the statutory guidance and is intended to support local authorities and providers understand in more detail the Department of Education’s expectations about how the free entitlements should be delivered.

For more information please contact your School Ready Improvement Officer.  Alternatively, see the below question and answer sheet. 

Resources