Funded childcare for 3 and 4-year-olds

2. Using the funded hours

Many childcare providers will work flexibly to help meets your needs, within the following limits:

• your child can have a maximum of 570 hours per year of funded childcare and early education (1,140 hours if you're eligible for the 30 hours funded childcare)
• you can take a maximum of 15 or 30 hours per week during term time only (38 weeks per year). If the childcare provider is open year round, you could take fewer hours every week but spread them across the year
• each funded session can last up to 10 hours a day up to a maximum of 15 hours per week (30 hours if eligible)
• if you would like to ‘top-up’ with additional hours then you can purchase these with your childcare provider, if they have space available

Please discuss with your chosen childcare provider regarding the flexible options available to you.