A guide to nursery funding 2026

All children receive 15 hours of free nursery education from the age of 3 (funding starts the term after your child’s third birthday).

There are other types of funding that your child may be eligible for:

30 funding for working families – your child can receive 30 hours of nursery funding from the age of 9 months (funding starts the term after your child turns 9 months old) if you work the equivalent of 16 hours at the National Minimum Wage or Living Wage or more.  If you are in a two parent household you must both be working. (From September 2025 this is increasing to 30 hours of nursery funding a week).

2 year funding – your child can receive 15 hours of nursery funding from the age of 2 years (funding starts the term after your child turns 2 years old) if you receive any of the following:

• 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)

Check if you are eligible here:  Go to https://www.beststartinlife.gov.uk/eligibility-checker

If you have any questions regarding funding, please call us on 01209 713607.