New Entitlement:
- Up to 30 hours of funding available for all under 5’s from 1st September 2025.
All children over the age of 9 months up to the age when they start school can get up to 570 hours of free early years education per year. Once your child becomes eligible for free early years education (here at Little Popples: when they have turned 2), we will apply for this funding from Devon County Council during 'Headcount' week, which is once every term.
30 hours free childcare for 3 and 4 year olds* and Tax-Free Childcare/Childcare vouchers are also available for working preschool parents. (*This will be extended to 2 year olds on 1st September 2025).
The following link will give you comprehensive details on what works for working families: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.
You can apply for your 30 hour code here: https://www.gov.uk/apply-30-hours-free-childcare
It is important that you allow good time to apply as any queries with new applications or reconfirmations can cause delays.
Please also see the myth busting Q&A sheet on Tax-Free childcare below.
We do accept children from the age of 2, but this is dependent on whether we feel they are ready and how well they settle in the preschool environment.
Parents can check their eligibility for 2-year-old funding on the Citizens' portal.
For any general questions relating to the application and eligibility checking of any 2-year-old funding, you can email Devon County Council using this email address: 2info@devon.gov.uk
Already using 15 hours childcare for working families?
You don’t need to reapply for a new code.
Simply continue to reconfirm your details every 3 months on your GOV.UK account and your existing code will update automatically to enable you to take up 30 hours from September.
You will need to have applied and received a code by a certain date in order to access 30 hours at the start of a funding period as follows:
| Valid code with start date of on or before | Funding Period |
|---|---|
| 31 August | Autumn (from 1 September) |
| 31 December | Spring (from 1 January) |
| 31 March | Summer (from 1 April) |
You should allow plenty of time to apply to ensure that a valid code is received well ahead of the deadline. You can apply for 30 hours before your child is eligible for 3 and 4-year-old funding but you must have a valid code at the start of the funding period. Please note: if you become eligible after the start of a funding period, or eligibility has ended prior to the start of the funding period, you must wait until the following period to access your 30 hour place.
All eligible parents MUST reconfirm, their 30 hours and Tax-Free Childcare entitlement every 3 months.
Any parent wishing to apply for 30-hour funding must have received confirmation that their child is eligible before the start of the term in question and be issued with an 11-digit code.
