Labour reveal whether they will keep 15 hours free childcare – check if you can get benefit
WORKING parents will still get 15 hours free childcare from September under Labour, Sir Keir Starmer pledged today.
Despite months saying the Tory plan was unworkable, he has vowed to honour the existing government package of support.
It will see mums and dads benefit from 15 hours free childcare for kids from the age of nine months, before raising to 30 hours from September 2025.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced the massive rollout last year to help get stay-at-home parents back to work – as well as fresh incentives for Brits to become nursery staff.
He took flak from Labour who warned a lack of minders would make the entire scheme undeliverable.
But pressed today if Sir Keir would commit to keeping the plan, he said: “Yes, we will deliver. “Our plan is actually better than the Government’s… the Government is right to say they have a plan.
“The problem they have got is they haven’t planned for it and therefore they haven’t got the spaces for it.
“What we will do with our plan is provide a further 100,000 spaces, 3,000 new nurseries, wrapped around our primary schools so the wraparound is there, which is really popular with parents.”
The policy to turn spare primary school space into “school-based nurseries” will cost £40,000 per classroom, Labour said.
It would be funded through the party’s VAT raid on private schools which is estimated to raise around £1.6billion per year.
Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson was today forced to slap down her colleague Emily Thornberry for saying the tax grab would hamper state schools with larger class sizes.
Ms Thornberry sparked controversy yesterday by saying: “If we have to, in the short term, have larger classes, we have larger classes.”
Despairing Ms Philipson said today her comment “just wasn’t right” and said she would be “happy to” speak with Ms Thornberry about the plans.
Explained: how you can apply for the free childcare support
HOW can you apply for the 15 hours free childcare?
You can apply for 15 hours free childcare from when your child is one year and 36 weeks old.
Meanwhile, you can apply for 30 hours from when your child is two years and 36 weeks old.
Once you’ve applied via the gov.uk website you’ll be issued a code which you have to give to your childcare provider alongside your National Insurance number and child’s date of birth.
For example, if the term starts on September 1 you need to apply by August 31.
You should also check with your provider the exact date your free childcare kicks in.
It should take around 20 minutes to apply for a code, and can take up to seven days to find out if you’ve qualified.
The code will be sent to you once your application has been approved.
You have to reconfirm your eligibility for free childcare every three months on your online account.
Therefore, if you are a working parent of a nine-month-old and applying for 15 hours free childcare around the May 12 date, you may need to reconfirm your code to ensure you can start using your free hours from September.
A working parent is one who is earning at least a minimum amount, depending on their age.
For example, if you’re 21 or over, you must be earning the equivalent of £183 a week