Skip to content If you live and work in England you may be entitled to 15 hours funded childcare support from the term after your child turns 9 months old, until they start school.
From the term after your child’s 3rd birthday, this can be combined with the 15 hour entitlement for all 3 and 4 year olds to make up 30 hours of funded support over 38 weeks of the year.
In September 2025, 15 hours for working families with children under 3 will expand to 30 hours, meaning eligible working families will be able to claim 30 hours of childcare from the term after their child turns 9 months until they reach school age.
If your child already uses 15 hours for working parents, just reconfirm as usual and the code will work for the 30 hours offer.
You can usually get funded childcare for working parents if you (and your partner, if you have one) are:
Government funding does not cover
Government help with childcare costs for parents.
To apply for / further information on funding, tax-free childcare, tax credits and vouchers please visit HM Governments website Best Start in Life.
The table below shows when you can access this funded support:
| If my child turns 9 months old between… | I can access the working parent entitlement from the… |
|---|---|
| 1 January to 31 March | Term starting on or after 1 April |
| 1 April to 31 August | Term starting on or after 1 September |
| 1 September to 31 December | Term starting on or after 1 January |
The funding will start based on the term dates used by Leicester City Council for that school year, for example the Summer Term 2025 does not start until the 28th April.
For more information on what entitlements are available and when you can use your entitlements from please visit Best Start in Life
The government provides funded hours based on term time only over 38 weeks of the year, so in total up to 570 funded hours (15hrs x 38wks) or 1140 funded hours (30hrs x 38wks) funded hours per annum.
We offer both the Funded 15 hours and Funded 30 hours on a “stretched basis” over 51 weeks, therefore giving families access to funded hours spread equally throughout the year and invoiced at the same amount each month.
On a “stretched basis” the Universal 15 hours will be given as 11 hours per week on our stretched funding over 51 weeks.
For children entitled to the Funded 30 hours this will be given as 22 hours per week on our stretched funding over 51 weeks.
Part day sessions are not available for funded children.
For Funded 30 hours – You, and any partner, must each expect to earn (on average) at least £120 a week (equal to 16 hours at the National Minimum or Living Wage). If you, or your partner, are on maternity, paternity or adoption leave, or you’re unable to work because you are disabled or have caring responsibilities, you could still be eligible.
You can’t get 30 hours funded childcare if you, or your partner, expect to earn £100,000 or more.
The Government State to nurseries:
“You should use government funding (FEEE) to provide high-quality, flexible early education and childcare. You shouldn’t use this funding to cover the cost of consumable items, such as drinks, meals, or additional services, such as baby yoga, French lessons, music lessons and trips.”
We offer two funded packages at Nursery Rhymes:
| APRIL 2026 PRIVATE FEES WITH NO FUNDING | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DAYS | Private Rate Per Day | Funded Hours | COST TO PARENT PER WEEK | COST PER WEEK WITH 20% TFC | COST TO PARENT PER MONTH | COST TO PARENT PER MONTH WITH 20% TFC |
| 2 | £89.50 | 0 | £179.00 | £143.20 | £760.75 | £608.60 |
| 3 | £89.50 | 0 | £268.50 | £214.80 | £1,141.13 | £912.90 |
| 4 | £89.50 | 0 | £358.00 | £286.40 | £1,521.50 | £1,217.20 |
| 5 | £89.50 | 0 | £425.12 | £340.10 | £1,806.76 | £1,445.41 |
We operate an equality and inclusion policy and ensure that all children have access to nursery places and services irrespective of their gender, race, disability, religion or belief or sexual orientation of parent(s).
Our main demand is for full time or full day – all year round – places and our business model, staffing commitments and facilities are all set-up to meet this demand. For business sustainability purposes we have to manage our allocation of places to ensure, where possible, that the take-up of nursery sessions is consistent across all days and all year round.
Applications for full-time places may need to be allocated before those for part-time places, and bookings for full day sessions and all year-round places may need to be allocated before those for part day sessions and term-time only places.
“FEEE only” (completely free) places will be offered, subject to availability, as part of our allocation process. No additional charges will be made for these places, but attendance will be limited to specific hours and availability and will be allocated at the beginning of each term.
A registration fee is usually payable, but this is not payable for “FEEE only” places.
Funding data will be shared between Nursery Rhymes and our Local Authority. Our ICO number is Z1945561.
What do you as a parent / carer need to do?
We use an online system called Funding Loop to send and collect the information from parents. This will be sent by email approx 4 weeks before the new funding term Details on how Funding Loop works can be found here.
Funding can not be implemented until the above have been completed.
For further information on funding, tax-free childcare, tax credits and vouchers please visit the government’s website.
Parents who need assistance to apply, can call the childcare service Customer Interaction Centre on 0300 123 4097 and apply over the phone.
| Full Days (8am – 6pm) £83 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 weekly non funded fees | £166.00 | £249.00 | £332.00 | £415.00 |
| 2025 Monthly non funded fees | £705.50 | £1,058.25 | £1,411.00 | £1,675.55 5% disc |
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