Could More Parents Get 'Free' Hours? The Government Is Looking Into UK’s Childcare System

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has revealed she’s reviewing the free childcare eligibility thresholds impacting parents in England. 

Under the current system, working parents are entitled to 30 hours of free childcare a week (for 38 weeks a year) after their child turns nine months old, up until they start school. 

However if both parents earn less than £195 per week, or one parent earns more than £100,000 per year, this support isn’t available.

Phillipson told The Times: “We are going to continue to look at eligibility through the childcare review that we’re undertaking, and it does need to be simpler for parents.”

How does the current threshold work?

There is a lower and higher threshold, which means thousands of parents aren’t able to access support. 

People who are aged 21 or over need to be earning more than £195.36 per week to be eligible for the free childcare offering. This drops to £160 per week for 18-20 year-olds and £120.80 per week for under-18s or apprentices. 

Coram Family and Childcare’s latest annual Childcare Survey found families who are not eligible for the free hours – because they are not in work, do not earn enough or do not meet other criteria – have to pay an average of £189 per week for a part-time nursery place for a child under two.

It warned there is a risk that disadvantaged children are being priced out of accessing the same early years education as those in working families. 

Lydia Hodges, from Coram, said the government’s childcare expansion is a “welcome support” for working families, but added there’s a “stark divide” between those eligible for support, and those who are not.

She said: “The focus on children being ‘school ready’ is gathering pace, but we have to ask a question about how much more difficult this will be to achieve for disadvantaged children in England, when they will now get only a third of the government-funded early education that children with working parents get, by the time they start school.”

There is also a higher threshold where one parent earning over £100,000 means couples aren’t able to access 30 free hours to pay for childcare either. 

This means two parents could hypothetically earn £99,999 and receive 30 hours of free childcare a week; while another couple could have one person earning £101,000 and the other earning £5,000, and they would lose out. 

As a result, parents have refused pay rises and bonuses, The Times reported, as the free childcare offering is better value.

All parents are able to access 15 free hours of childcare when their child turns three years old, regardless of income. 

When will the changes be made?

We know both the lower and higher thresholds are under review between now and the next general election, which will be August 2029 at the latest.

Any changes that will be made are not imminent and form part of the government’s early years strategy. 

Ultimately, Phillipson is keen to make the free childcare offering “more straightforward” for parents and the childcare sector, while also “getting the best possible outcomes from the money that’s being invested”.

HuffPost UK has contacted the government about when the outcome of the review is likely to be shared and will update the piece when we hear back.