Government-funded early education hours are one of the most valuable, and most misunderstood, parts of childcare. Here's what your funded hours actually pay for, what they don't, and how your bill is worked out.
Every child in England becomes eligible for free Government-funded early education at different ages. Funding is paid directly to us by the Local Authority: you never apply to us for it, and you never pay for the funded hours.
| Entitlement | Who qualifies |
|---|---|
| 30 hours per week (working families) | Working families from 9 months who meet the income criteria |
| 15 hours per week (universal) | All 3 and 4 year olds |
| 15 hours per week (working families) | Eligible 3 and 4 year olds |
| Up to 15 hours per week (income-assessed) | Eligible 2 year olds |
Check your eligibility and get your funding code at childcare.beststartinlife.gov.uk/support. You must reconfirm your code every 12 weeks to keep funding active. If your code lapses, you'll be charged the full private rate until it's reinstated. You'll also need to complete and return a parent declaration form as part of setting up your funded place.
Rather than the standard term-time-only model, we spread your child's annual entitlement evenly across 51 weeks of the year, so your child attends year-round with consistent weekly hours.
| Entitlement | Annual hours | Stretched hrs/week |
|---|---|---|
| 15-hour entitlement | 570 hours | 11.18 hours/week |
| 30-hour entitlement | 1,140 hours | 22.35 hours/week |
Funded hours are only delivered between 9:00am and 4:30pm, up to a maximum of 7.5 hours per day. This determines how many funded hours apply on any single day, not your child's total annual entitlement, which stays exactly the same. For children attending three or more days a week, the 7.5-hour cap comfortably covers the stretched weekly entitlement, so most families will see little practical difference.
| Session | Duration | Funded (max) | Private hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full day | 10.5 hours | 7.5 hours | 3.0 hours |
| Morning (8:00am to 1:00pm) | 5 hours | 4 hours | 1 hour |
| Afternoon (1:00pm to 6:00pm) | 5 hours | 3.5 hours | 1.5 hours |
On a full day, funded hours can apply for the full 9:00am to 4:30pm window, giving the full 7.5-hour maximum; the remaining 3 hours are charged at our private hourly rate. A morning session starts at 8:00am, an hour before the funding window opens, so only 9:00am to 1:00pm can be funded, a maximum of 4 hours. An afternoon session runs past the 4:30pm close of the funding window, so only 1:00pm to 4:30pm can be funded, a maximum of 3.5 hours. Time outside the window is charged at our private hourly rate regardless of a child's remaining weekly entitlement.
Why can't funding cover food and consumables? Department for Education guidance is explicit: funded hours must be free at the point of use for the educational element, but nurseries can charge separately for meals and optional extras, provided these charges are itemised and never used as a condition of accessing the funded hours themselves. See our Consumables Charges on the Fees page for the full breakdown. We've chosen to provide wipes, suncream, nappy creams, Calpol, Piriton, Bonjela, Vaseline, trips and outings free of charge, in line with our values as a setting.
Because every family's pattern of days, funded hours and opt-in choices is different, use the fee calculator on our Fees page to work out your own likely monthly bill in a couple of clicks.