How to use your 15 (universal) hours of free childcare entitlement

You can use your 15 hours:

between 6am and 8pm
for a maximum of 10 hours a day.

Split your hours

You can split your 15 hours between providers, for example, a nursery and a childminder. Both must be signed up to deliver this funding However, you can't use more than 2 sites each day. The providers must be willing to work together. You also don't have to use the whole 15 hours.

Not all providers can be flexible in how they offer the funded hours. So, check with your chosen provider to make sure their offer suits your needs.

Stretch your funding

Some providers may offer a stretched pattern of hours. This means, you get fewer hours each week, but for more weeks of the year. You will need to discuss this with your chosen provider if this is something they offer.

If your childcare provider offers the funding stretched over 48 weeks, the hours will reduce to 12 hours per week. Be aware that if this is the case you will exceed your entitlement hours of 570 by six hours. Your childcare provider should inform you of this and that you can either remove your child for six hours or your child can remain at the setting and you would be charged for the additional six hours at the childcare provider’s rate.

When a provider is not open for the full 38 weeks, you cannot claim more than 15 (universal) hours each week over fewer weeks of the year. If you choose a provider that is open for fewer than 38 weeks of the year, you will not receive your full entitlement.

When to use your funding

The 38 weeks or more of funded hours can be used in line with the following academic periods. Your childcare provider will tell you how many weeks you can use during each period. These include:

Autumn: 1 September to 31 December
Spring: 1 January to last day of the spring holiday
Summer: First day of the summer term to 31 August.

What the provider needs from you

To claim funding, the provider will ask:

to see your child’s birth certificate or passport
you to complete a parental declaration form which will allow them to claim the funding for you. A parental declaration form informs the childcare provider and us that you wish to claim the funding with them for the full term. Make sure that you read through this form prior to signing. If you have any questions about this form, speak to your childcare provider.
If you are claiming funding at two settings the number of hours should show both on each form that you sign.

The Universal hours has no monetary value to you. The entitlement is up to 570 hours of funded childcare per year. The year starts when your child first becomes eligible for funding. They must also be in the correct date of birth range.

Headcount week

Your child must attend their specified hours during Kent headcount week to claim the universal element of the funded early education and childcare for that term.

Your child's attendance during headcount week determines the funded hours your provider can claim for.

If you have not claimed the full hours during headcount, you cannot increase the number of funded hours your child attends at any point in the term.

To find out when the headcount week is, talk to your childcare provider.

Late joiners

You can claim funded hours if your child:

is moving to Kent from another local authority after headcount week
has not claimed at another setting in Kent during that academic period.

Transfer funding during headcount week

Providers are under no obligation to transfer funding. If you switch providers after the headcount week, you might need to pay the new one until the start of the next term.

The parental declaration form that you will be asked to sign states in point 8, ‘I understand that if I decide to change providers during the term and my child has already been funded for that term that I will have to pay the new provider for the hours my child attends for the remainder of the term’.

Childcare providers can transfer the funding themselves if they are happy to do so. This would be a private matter between the two providers and the Local Authority would not get involved.

An appeals process is in place for exceptional circumstances such as a move due to adoption or domestic violence. Email kentcfis@theeducationpeople.org for further information.