Free Childcare for Students

Free Childcare for Students: Main Support Options

Childcare help for students in England is divided between student finance, education-provider support and general childcare schemes. The correct route depends mainly on the student’s age and course.

Support Is Not Always Automatic

Most student childcare schemes require an application, evidence and an eligible provider. Starting a course or having dependent children does not automatically activate payment.

Apply Before Childcare Starts

Early applications give the student, education provider and childcare provider time to exchange information and set up payment arrangements. A student may otherwise need to cover initial invoices while their application is processed.

Care To Learn for Student Parents Under 20

Care to Learn helps eligible young parents continue or return to education after having a child. The parent must normally have been under 20 when their study programme began.

How Much Can Care To Learn Pay?

For the 2026/27 academic year, Care to Learn can provide up to:

• £180 per child per week outside London.
• £195 per child per week in London.

The support can cover eligible childcare and additional travel costs connected with taking the child to the provider, within the overall scheme limit.

Eligible Courses

The study programme must normally receive direct public funding. Eligible education can include schools, sixth forms, sixth-form colleges, further-education colleges and certain approved training providers.

Courses That Are Normally Excluded

Privately funded education, apprenticeships and most higher- education courses are not covered by Care to Learn. A student on a degree course should investigate higher-education student finance instead.

Study, Placements And Independent Learning

Care to Learn can support childcare during teaching, required work placements and agreed independent study time. Reasonable travel time between home, the provider and education setting may also be considered.

What Happens After Turning 20?

A parent who turns 20 during an eligible programme may continue receiving support until the end of that specific programme, subject to the scheme rules.

Can Students Receive Funded Childcare Hours?

Being a student does not automatically prevent a parent from using an age-based funded childcare entitlement. However, the working-parent offer has employment and earnings conditions that full-time study alone does not normally satisfy.

Universal Hours for 3 And 4-Year-Olds

All three and four-year-olds in England can receive 570 funded hours a year from the relevant term. This is usually described as 15 hours each week for 38 weeks.

Funded Places for Eligible 2-Year-Olds

Some two-year-olds can receive funded early education because the family receives a qualifying benefit or the child meets another recognised eligibility condition.

Working-Parent Funded Childcare

The working-parent entitlement is based on work and expected earnings. A student may qualify where they also work and satisfy the conditions, or where a specific exception applies.

Students With A Working Partner

Where parents are a couple, both adults normally need to meet the working-parent conditions unless an exception applies. One partner working while the other studies does not automatically create entitlement to the working-parent hours.

Combining Funded Hours With A Childcare Grant

Funded hours can reduce the childcare bill, but the Childcare Grant cannot pay for those same funded hours. Student Finance England support should be based on the eligible childcare cost remaining.

How To Apply for Student Childcare Support

Application routes differ, but students can reduce delays by gathering course, household and childcare information before the academic year starts.

1. Confirm the level, intensity and funding status of your course.
2. Identify the support route that matches your age and study type.
3. Choose a childcare provider that satisfies the scheme rules.
4. Request a written childcare quote for the academic year.
5. Deduct any confirmed funded childcare hours from the gross cost.
6. Apply through student finance or your education provider.
7. Submit household-income and childcare evidence promptly.
8. Set up any required online payment-service account.
9. Check and approve provider payment requests when required.
10. Report changes to study, household or childcare arrangements.

Apply With Your Main Student Finance Application

Full-time undergraduate students can normally apply for a Childcare Grant as part of their Student Finance England application. A paper form may be available where the student has already submitted their main application or needs to add another child.

Speak To Student Services

Further-education and university students should contact student services even when applying through a national scheme. The institution may know about local childcare places, hardship funding and course-specific assistance.

Confirm Provider Participation

A provider may be registered but still need to complete payment- service or scheme administration. Ask whether it has previously accepted the relevant student childcare funding.

Keep Evidence

Save childcare invoices, payment confirmations, attendance records, funding letters and messages reporting changes. Accurate records can help resolve payment questions or prevent overpayments.