Universal 3 and 4-year-olds 15-hours funding for childcare and education
All 3 to 4-year-olds in England receive 15 hours of free early education or childcare per week the term following their 3rd birthday. We are a term time only setting and offer up to 28.75 hours per week.
30-hours funding for childcare and education
Children of working parents will be eligible for the expanded entitlement which provides an additional 30 hours of free childcare per week. A code will need to be provided prior to the child starting at preschool and needs to be reconfirmed every 3 months. It is the responsibility for the parents/carers to reconfirm before the validity end date to ensure smooth funding is processed. If the code becomes invalid, an invoice will be raised at the current rate for the child’s non-funded sessions.
You are able to split your funded hours between Pollyanna Pre-school CIO and another setting, providing that they also operate term time only.
2-Year-Old funding for childcare and education
The Early Learning Programme (ELP) for 2-year-olds is a government initiative that provides
funded childcare for eligible 2-year-olds. A government funded 2-year-old place is available for families in England who receive some form of support. Once eligibility is confirmed it will remain until the child becomes eligible for ‘universal’ 3- and 4-year funding, even if a family’s circumstances change.
Eligible 2-year-old children will receive:
– 15 hours of free childcare or early education for 38 weeks
For further information and to find answers to frequently-asked questions about 2-year-old and 30-hours Free Childcare Entitlement, please download our Parent’s Guide below or click on the eligibility calculator to find out which funding your child is entitled to.
When you can start claiming for Universal Funding or 2 Year-Old Funding (families in receipt of additional Government financial support)
The date you can start claiming depends on your child’s birthday.
| A child born on or between: | Will become eligible for funding from: |
| 1 April and 31 August | 1 September following their 2nd/3rd birthday |
| 1 September and 31 December | 1 January following their 2nd/3rd birthday |
| 1 January and 31 March | 1 April following their 2nd/3rd birthday |
When you can start claiming for working families
The date you can start claiming depends on your child’s birthday.
| When your child is 9 months old | When you can get your hours from | When to apply |
| 1 September to 31 December | Term starting on or after 1 January | The term before 1 January |
| 1 January to 31 March | Term starting on or after 1 April | The term before 1 April |
| 1 April to 31 August | Term starting on or after 1 September | The term before 1 September |
Eligibility
The free early education and childcare must be with an approved childcare provider.
Eligibility stops at the end of the term before your child is due to start reception class.
If you have any queries about free entitlement, please contact the preschool administrator.
Funding Code Validity Dates
Validity dates affect when the funding is accessible. Please see below the example for Autumn funding:
| Validity Start Date | Must be on or before 31st August |
| Validity End Date | Must be on or later than 1st September, or start date (if after start of term) |
| Age of Child | Must be the relevant age by 31st August |
Fees
Pollyanna Pre-school CIO private non-funded hours is currently £6.25 per hour per child.
A voluntary contribution from parents to help cover the operating consumables costs provided to your child, for example, healthy snacks served in preschool, baby wipes or the five-star UVA sun cream provided when the weather dictates will be requested by the preschool. This contribution will be on invoices as ‘Extra Charge’ for consumables. The requested contribution is £1 per single session and £1.50 for a full day (double session).
From January 2026, the consumable charges will be broken down into separate elements as follows:
- Consumables: Suncream, nappies, baby wipes etc. = £0.25
- Morning Snack = £0.25
- Afternoon Snack = £0.25
- Extra Curricular Activities = £0.25
- External Tuition = £0.50
Placing your child on our register / waiting list is subject to a £25 admissions fee. This fee is refundable (to funded children) either to your nominated bank account or deducted off your consumables invoice if your child is accessing only funded hours with us at Pollyanna Pre-School CIO. This will be returned upon your child starting at Pollyanna Pre-School CIO. If the admissions fee has not been paid, we unfortunately will not be able to place your child on our register / waiting list unless otherwise agreed with the Manager or Administrator. Children accessing the government disadvantage 2-year-old funding will be exempt from this fee on production of the 2-year-old funding code. Payment details are provided on the admissions form below.
Tax Free Childcare
Did you know that Pollyanna Pre-School are registered with the Tax-Free Childcare scheme? In a nutshell, Tax-Free Childcare is there to support working parents with the cost of childcare. For every £8 a parent pays into their childcare account, the government adds an extra £2, up to a maximum of £2,000 per child per year (or £4,000 for a disabled child).
For more information and to set up your account, head to https://www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare
Pollyanna Pre-School CIO 