30 Hours Childcare Criteria

This is not available to everyone the criteria is as follows:

• Your child must be aged 3 or 4 years old
• Both parents must be working, or the sole parent in a single-parent family must be in work
• Each parent earns, on average, a weekly minimum equivalent of 16 hours employment at National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage  
• Each parent must have an annual income of less than £100,000
• You live in England

The same rules apply to anyone on a zero-hours contract or those who are self-employed. However, it is important to remember that this scheme is being introduced to help working parents and is not simply a way for those choosing not to work to be able to access an additional benefit.  

There are certain provisions in place for families where one of the parents:

• Is not in work due to being an official carer and receiving benefits related to this
• Is receiving disability benefits
• Is normally in work but is temporarily away from the workplace due to illness, maternity leave etc.