30 Hours for Children in Foster Care

Working parents of 3 and 4 years old in England may be entitled to up to 30 hours of childcare for 38 weeks of the year (term time) or use less hours per week for up to 52 weeks of the year (stretched). This is an additional 15 hours of childcare to support working families and is on top of the 15 hours universal entitlement for all 3 and 4 year olds in England. Children in foster care are already entitled to the universal 15 hours.

3 & 4 year old children in foster care will be able to receive 30 hours of funded childcare, if the following criteria are met:

• Accessing the extended hours is consistent with the child’s care plan; and
• Where a single foster carer is in paid work outside of their role as a foster carer, or
• Where there are two foster carers in the same household and both have paid work in addition to their role as a foster carer.

Applications for 30 hours for Foster Children need to be made to the responsible Local Authority (i.e. the Local Authority who is looking after the child) but may not be appropriate for all children in Foster Care. In the first instance, Foster Carers should discuss the application process with their Social Worker.

You can apply for the 30 hour funding when your child is 2 years and 36 weeks old (up to 16 weeks before their 3rd birthday). We do suggest that you make your application in good time as you must have received a valid code by the end of the month before the new funding period starts i.e. For Autumn, a 30 hour code must have been received by 31st August.