--- title: "Childcare funding in Wales, ages 2 to 5" description: "The help families in Wales can get with childcare costs for ages two to five: the Childcare Offer, Flying Start, Tax-Free Childcare and Universal Credit." url: https://www.forestschool.wales/funding updated: 2026-10-10 --- # Childcare funding in Wales: Help with the cost Many families in Wales can get help paying for childcare, and in Monmouthshire it now starts at two. Here is what there is, who can get it, and how it will work at Footprints. Before we open: Funded hours can only be used at a setting approved for each scheme: registered with Care Inspectorate Wales and signed up, for most of them. Before places open, this page will say exactly which ones you can use at Footprints, and founding families will hear first. ![A red squirrel sits up on a mossy tree stump with a hazelnut in its paws, a small heap of acorns, hazelnuts and a conker beside it, and a woven basket of nuts on the ground.](https://www.forestschool.wales/art/funding-squirrel.229045dc-800.jpg) ## What could your family get? A few quick questions, and the answer appears as you go. Nothing you choose leaves this page. ## The help there is Five kinds of help, in plain words. Most families can use more than one. three and four year olds ### Childcare Offer for Wales Up to 30 hours a week of government-funded early education and childcare: 39 weeks in term time, and 9 weeks of the school holidays too. - **Who can get it**: Families in Wales where each parent works, earning at least £203 a week (leave such as maternity leave counts), or studies on a course of at least 10 weeks, and each earns under £100,000 a year. It starts the term after your child turns three. - **How to get it**: Apply online to the Welsh Government. In Monmouthshire you can apply up to 75 days before the term starts. The national helpline is 03000 628 628. [The Childcare Offer on GOV.WALES](https://www.gov.wales/get-30-hours-childcare-3-and-4-year-olds) - **At Footprints**: To be confirmed before places open. three and four year olds ### Early education At least 10 hours a week of free early education in term time, at a school nursery or an approved playgroup or nursery. - **Who can get it**: Every child in Wales, from the term after they turn three, whatever their parents do. - **How to get it**: For a school nursery, apply to Monmouthshire County Council (01633 644508). For an approved playgroup or nursery, apply to the setting. [Early education in Monmouthshire](https://www.monmouthshire.gov.uk/foundation-phase-nursery-fpn-and-funding/) - **At Footprints**: Usually taken at a school nursery or playgroup, and Forest School days can sit alongside it. two year olds ### Childcare for two year olds 12.5 hours a week of free childcare for 39 weeks of the year, with at least 15 holiday sessions, from the term after your child turns two to the end of the term they turn three. You may know it as Flying Start childcare. - **Who can get it**: In Monmouthshire, every two year old from 2 November 2026, at a setting registered to take the funding. Every council in Wales aims to offer it to all two year olds by the end of March 2027. - **How to get it**: Apply to Monmouthshire County Council online, or ask its Early Years and Childcare Hub. [Funded childcare for two year olds in Monmouthshire](https://www.monmouthshire.gov.uk/welsh-government-funded-childcare-for-2-year-olds/) - **At Footprints**: To be confirmed before places open. from birth to eleven ### Tax-Free Childcare For every £8 you pay towards childcare, the government adds £2, up to £2,000 a year for each child, or £4,000 for a disabled child. - **Who can get it**: Families anywhere in the UK where each parent earns at least £203 a week and under £100,000 a year. Not alongside Universal Credit or childcare vouchers. - **How to get it**: Open an account on GOV.UK, pay the setting from it, and confirm your details every three months. [Tax-Free Childcare on GOV.UK](https://www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare) - **At Footprints**: To be confirmed before places open. any age ### Universal Credit childcare Up to 85% of your childcare costs back each month, up to £1,071.09 for one child or £1,836.16 for two or more. - **Who can get it**: Families who get Universal Credit, where each parent is in paid work, however little. - **How to get it**: Report what you pay in your Universal Credit account, with the setting's invoice. [Universal Credit childcare on GOV.UK](https://www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/universal-credit) - **At Footprints**: To be confirmed before places open. ## Using more than one - The Childcare Offer and early education go together: at least 10 of the Offer's 30 hours are early education, which you apply for separately. - Tax-Free Childcare can pay for hours beyond the funded ones, and for extras such as food and transport. - Universal Credit childcare can pay for hours beyond the funded ones too, but never for the funded hours themselves. - Tax-Free Childcare and Universal Credit childcare can't be used together, so choose whichever helps more. For families on Universal Credit, that is almost always Universal Credit. - If you joined a childcare voucher scheme at work by 4 October 2018, you may be able to keep it, but not alongside Tax-Free Childcare. ## What the funded hours cover The funded hours themselves are free. Under the Childcare Offer, a setting can charge for food (no more than £11.25 a day, or £7.20 for half a day with lunch), for transport, and for the occasional trip that costs extra. It can't charge for everyday activities, or add a top-up to the funded hourly rate. Some costs aren't covered by the funding at all, such as a fee to hold a place over the holidays, and any hours beyond the funded ones are paid for privately. When our prices come, they will show funded hours and anything extra separately, so you can see exactly what you would pay. ## You might be wondering ### Can I use funding at Footprints? Funded hours can only be used at a setting approved for each scheme, which for most means registered with Care Inspectorate Wales and signed up. Before places open, this page will say exactly which ones you can use at Footprints, and founding families will hear first. ### My child is two. Is there any help? Yes. In Monmouthshire every two year old can have 12.5 hours a week of funded childcare in term time from 2 November 2026, starting the term after they turn two. Tax-Free Childcare and Universal Credit can help at any age. ### When can my child start the Childcare Offer? From the term after their third birthday. Born between September and December: from January. Between January and March: from April. Between April and August: from September. It runs in term time until they start school full time, in the September after they turn four, and can carry on in the school holidays. ### Do both parents have to work? For Tax-Free Childcare, yes: each parent in the household earning at least £203 a week and under £100,000 a year, or a single parent who does. For the Childcare Offer, a parent studying on a course of at least 10 weeks counts too, and some families on certain benefits can still get it. The national helpline, 03000 628 628, knows the exceptions. ### Can I use Tax-Free Childcare and the Childcare Offer together? Yes. The Offer pays for its funded hours, and Tax-Free Childcare can help with any hours beyond them, and with extras such as food and transport. ### We live in England. Does any of this apply? Tax-Free Childcare and Universal Credit work the same anywhere in the UK. The Childcare Offer, early education and the two year olds' hours are for families who live in Wales; England has its own free hours, so ask your council how they work across the border. ### Will there be anything extra to pay? The funded hours themselves are free. A setting can charge for food (no more than £11.25 a day), transport and the occasional trip, and some costs, such as a holiday retainer, aren't covered by the funding. When our prices come, they will show anything extra separately. ### Is more help coming? The Welsh Government plans to build up to 20 funded hours a week, for 48 weeks of the year, for every child from nine months to four, over this Senedd term, keeping the 30 hours for eligible three and four year olds. No dates are set for each step yet, and this page will change when they are. ## Who to ask The rules have exceptions, and the people who run the schemes are glad to help. These are the places to start. - [Monmouthshire's Early Years and Childcare Hub](https://www.monmouthshire.gov.uk/monchildcare/): The county's Family Information Service: 01633 644527, childcare@monmouthshire.gov.uk. - [The Childcare Offer helpline](tel:03000628628): 03000 628 628, for the Offer and your application. Newport City Council runs it for Monmouthshire. - [Check your eligibility on GOV.WALES](https://www.gov.wales/check-eligibility-childcare-offer): The Welsh Government's own checker for the Childcare Offer. Checked on 9 October 2026 against GOV.WALES, GOV.UK and Monmouthshire County Council. The figures change each April, and this page changes with them. [Join the founding families](https://www.forestschool.wales/join) Founding families hear first which schemes we accept.