Your 2-year-old can get free childcare if you live in England and get any of the following benefits:
- Income Support
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- Universal Credit, and your household income is £15,400 a year or less after tax, not including benefit payments
- The guaranteed element of Pension Credit
- Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit (or both), and your household income is £16,190 a year or less before tax
- the Working Tax Credit 4-week run on (the payment you get when you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit)
2-year-olds can also get free childcare if they:
- are looked after by a local authority
- have an education, health and care (EHC) plan
- get Disability Living Allowance
- have left care under an adoption order, special guardianship order or a child arrangements order
The expanded offer
From April 2024, eligible working parents of 2-year-olds can access 15 hours childcare support. By September 2025, most working families with children aged between 9 months and 5 years old will be entitled to 30 hours of childcare support.
The changes are being introduced gradually to make sure that providers can meet the needs of more families. This means that:
From September 2024
15 hours childcare support will be extended to eligible working parents of children from the age of 9 months to 3-year-olds.
From September 2025
Eligible working parents of children from 9 months to school age will be entitled to 30 hours of childcare a week.
Like the existing offer, depending on your provider, these hours can be used over 38 weeks of the year (during school term time), or up to 52 weeks if you use fewer than your total hours per week.
*38 weeks a year. Eligibility criteria apply. Providers may ask for additional charges.