30 hours of funded childcare for foster children

Early Years children in foster care aged 9 months and above will be able to receive 30 hours of childcare, if the foster carers meet a set of eligibility criteria and it is consistent with the child’s care plan. You must speak to your Supervising Social Worker to see if you meet the criteria before completing the application form.

Criteria for 30 hours funded childcare for foster children:

City of York Council is the Corporate Parent of the child; if the corporate parent is another local authority you must contact them for an application form
the child becomes eligible for funding the term after they turn 9 months. The child will need to have turned 9 months before:
- 31 March – to be eligible for the summer term
- 31 August – to be eligible for the autumn term
- 31 December – to be eligible for the spring term
it's in the child's care plan that attending a childcare setting for the additional hours is in their best interest
all foster carers in the household are working outside of fostering, or if a couple, at least one carer is working and the other carer is in receipt of a qualifying benefit
the foster carers are EEA or Swiss national and they have EU Settled Status (EUSS) or are in the process of applying for or appealing EUSS and they meet the other eligibility criteria
the foster carers must live in England
the foster carers are working, but earning less than £100,000 net per year or
non-foster parents in the household must meet the standard criteria for a 30-hour code:
- working and earning the equivalent of 16 hours per week at the minimum wage/national living wage
- earning less than £100,000 per year
- EEA or Swiss national and they have EU Settled Status (EUSS) or are in the process of applying for or appealing EUSS or have a visa allowing them to have access to public funds

An application form must be completed and signed off by the Virtual School Head before the following deadlines to begin claiming funding in the corresponding terms:

31 March - Summer term (after Easter)
31 August - Autumn (early Septmber)
31 December - Spring term (early January)

Once you and your partner (if you have one) have completed and signed the form, you must supply evidence of paid employment outside of your fostering responsibilities; this can be in the form of copies of pay slips or employment contracts.

The completed form and your employment evidence must be sent to your Supervising Social Worker who will check the form and forward onto the Headteacher of the Virtual School for Children in Care to be agreed and countersigned.

If your application is successful, it will be sent to the Early Years Funding team to process. You will receive an email from [email protected] confirming eligibility and this will contain your unique 11 digit code beginning with ‘400’. You must take this code to your chosen Early Years and childcare provider, who will validate the code and reserve a funded place for the child.

Your code can be used at any Early Years and childcare provider that is registered to offer Early Education Funding in any English Local Authority, although there is an expectation that this will be at a provider who had a Good or Outstanding Ofsted rating.

To search for registered childcare providers in City of York Council area, please visit our childcare webpage.

Your code will need to be renewed by the local authority every 3 months, and we contact you by email to ask you to confirm that your circumstances have not changed and you still meet the criteria.

This form is only for foster carers. If you're applying for your own children use the Childcare Choices website.

To request an application form, please email: [email protected]

Find further information about childcare or for more information contact the Education Support Service by telephone: 01904 553880 or by email: [email protected].