Eligibility for the extended entitlement

Who is eligible?

The eligibility criteria for working families have been set by the Government. In order to be eligible the child must be of the correct age to be eligible and the child’s parent(s) meets the eligibility criteria set out below:

• The parent of the child (and their partner where applicable) should be seeking the funded childcare to enable them to work.
• The parent of the child (and their partner where applicable) should also be in qualifying paid work. Each parent or the single parent in a lone parent household will need to expect to earn the equivalent of 16 hours at the national living wage or their national minimum wage rate over the forthcoming quarter. This is equivalent to about £167 per week or around £8,670 per year. (From April 2024 this increases to £183.04 per week or around £9,520 per year)
• Both parents are employed but one or both parents is temporarily away from the workplace on parental, maternity or paternity leave, adoption leave or get statutory sick pay
• You can still apply if you or your partner is temporarily away from England for a period of up to 6 months, such as if you are in the military (on duty).
• You can also still apply for the extended entitlement if either you or your partner are employed or self-employed and one of you gets one or more of the following benefits:
  • Contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance
  • Carer's Allowance
  • Incapacity Benefit or long-term Incapacity Benefit
  • Severe Disablement Allowance
  • National Insurance credits because of incapacity or limited capability for work
  • You have been assessed as having limited capability for work for Universal Credit purposes
• Where a parent is in a ‘start-up period’ (i.e. they are newly self-employed) they do not need to demonstrate that they meet the income criteria for 12 months in order to qualify for the extended entitlement.
• Neither parent has an income of more than £100,000 per year