What is the Childcare Offer for Wales?
The Childcare Offer for Wales provides working parents of three and four year olds with up to 30 hours per week of combined Foundation Phase Nursery (FPN) education and additional funded childcare for up to 48 weeks per year. The Offer will build on children’s existing FPN education entitlement during term time, and provide up to 30 hours of funded childcare for nine weeks of the school holidays.
How many hours of childcare am I eligible for?
The offer is a maximum of 30 hours of combined FPN education and additional funded childcare. RCT offers children, from the term following their 3rd birthday, 15 hours of FPN education. This means that during term time, eligible parents can access an additional 15 hours of funded childcare.
Parents are not required to access their FPN education entitlement in order to access the childcare element of the Offer. However their entitlement will include these hours whether they access them or not.
If your child’s school offers full time FPN education, then your term time entitlement through the Childcare Offer will be taken up by the FPN education provision and you will not receive any additional funded childcare. You will still be eligible for 30 hours of funded childcare for nine weeks of the school holidays.
Please note – RCT resident children are eligible for a full time education place from the term following their 4th birthday. This means that, from that point, RCT children cannot access the Childcare Offer funded childcare during term time. They can still access holiday funded childcare until the end of the summer holidays following their 4th birthday. This policy applies even if parents do not wish to access nursery education or if the child attends a school in a different Local Authority and will continue to receive a part time education place during the term following their 4th birthday.
The education element of this offer is subject to normal RCT School Admissions rules. Parents must apply for a FPN education place by the dates detailed on the RCT School Admissions webpage. This is a separate application to the one made for the funded childcare element of the Childcare Offer.
As well as school settings, children may be able to access their education place through a Registered Education Provider (REP). These are CIW registered childcare settings who are also inspected by Estyn to deliver pre-nursery FPN education. Please note – we only fund education places in REP’s for children who are 3 years old between September and March each year. Children who are 3 between April and August each year will start at a school setting in the following September.
Where a school offers a staggered start to the term, it is not possible to claim Childcare Offer funded childcare hours from the start of the term when your child is not in school.
Further details on how to apply for a FPN education place can be found at www.rctcbc.gov.uk/schooladmissions.
When will my child become eligible?
The chart below explains when you can apply for the Childcare Offer:
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If your child is born between
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Eligible from
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Eligible to
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Applications open
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1 September 2019 - 31 December 2019
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9 January 2023 (start of Spring Term)
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31 August following their 4th birthday 2024
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Open
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1 January 2020 – 31 March 2020
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17 April 2023 (start of Summer term)
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31 August following their 4th birthday 2024
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Open
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1 April 2020 – 31 August 2020
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4 September 2023 (start of Autumn term)
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31 August following their 4th birthday 2024
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Open
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1 September 2020 – 31 December 2020
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8 January 2024 (start of Spring term)
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31 August following their 4th birthday 2025
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6 November 2023
(you can submit your application up to 90 days before the start of term, but we will not process your application until the date specified above)
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1 January 2021 – 31 March 2021
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8 April 2024 (start of Summer term)
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31 August following their 4th birthday 2025
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12 February 2024
(you can submit your application up to 90 days before the start of term, but we will not process your application until the date specified above)
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1 April 2021 - 31 August 2021
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2 September 2024 (start of Autumn term)
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31 August following their 4th birthday 2025
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24th June 2024
(you can submit your application up to 90 days before the start of term, but we will not process your application until the date specified above)
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Please note: In RCT, these admission dates remain the same each year and do not change according to when Easter falls.
If you apply before these dates, your application will be automatically rejected and you will need to reapply after the application open date.