Don’t miss the first funded term near the £100k cliff

If you have never had an 11-digit code, a late apply or a refused application can cost a whole term. Funded hours do not start on the day your child turns 9 months, and there is no grace period to keep a place running while you argue with HMRC.

You only get one first term. After that you are protecting a code you already have. This page is only for families who have not had a working-parent code before — usually a first child approaching 9 months, or a first claim after maternity.

Three clocks have to line up. The child must be old enough. You must be back at work (or about to be) in the right window. And HMRC must accept that you pass the income tests.

Hours start the term after the child turns 9 months. You can apply from 23 weeks. The plan is: get a live code as soon as the child is old enough and you can honestly expect the tax year under £100,000, then keep that code alive with the 90-day login. Applying early leaves time for a 14-day evidence pack and a 30-day review before the nursery’s date. Applying on a hope is how a first refusal starts — and a first apply has no grace period.

Pick the first term you can actually start

Funded hours do not start on the morning they turn 9 months. In England they start on the next 1 January, 1 April or 1 September after the child turns 9 months. Miss the apply-by date for that term and the next start is the following one — up to five months later if you miss April.

You can apply from when the child is 23 weeks old (about 16 weeks before 9 months). Apply earlier than that and you may get Tax-Free Childcare only. The funded-hours code waits.

Check your dates

When can I apply — and when do the hours start?

Child born

Work

Already in work On leave / starting a job Not working

Expect to pass the £100k / 16-hour tests?

Yes No Not sure

Nursery code deadline (optional)

Month they need the code by. Blank if you don’t have it. Treated as the end of that month.

England guide, not advice. Hours start on a term date. Tax-Free Childcare can start as soon as the account is live — but not before the baby is born. GOV.UK dates

Don’t miss the first funded term — part 2 — Family Money Expert

Don’t miss the first funded term

Place this block under the dates widget in Elementor. The tables are the fallback if the widget is not loaded.

Age table — when 30 hours can start

Child turns 9 months	Hours can start	Apply by (HMRC)
1 September – 31 December	1 January	31 December
1 January – 31 March	1 April	31 March
1 April – 31 August	1 September	31 August

Those HMRC dates are the last day a code can exist for that term. Your nursery often wants it weeks earlier. Best Start’s working advice is to apply at least six weeks before the deadline you care about.

If you apply more than three months before the term starts, you must sign back in and reconfirm. The code only lasts about 90 days.

Worked from the table: a child who turns 9 months on 10 June can start hours on 1 September. You can apply from 23 weeks (around February). If you apply in February, diary the first reconfirm as part of the apply.

If you are on maternity or starting a job

If you are still on maternity, paternity, shared parental or adoption leave — or you are starting a new job — HMRC also uses the date you return to work. Paid annual leave on your normal salary counts as having returned. Unpaid leave does not.

You return to work / start the job	Hours can start	Apply in this window
1 October – 31 January	1 January	1 September – 31 December
1 February – 30 April	1 April	1 January – 31 March
1 May – 30 September	1 September	1 April – 31 August

Both clocks have to be true. The later of the two calendars wins.

Example: child turns 9 months on 10 March, so the age table says hours from 1 April. You do not go back until 12 May. The work table then says hours from 1 September.

Put the return-to-work date into the widget as well as the child’s date of birth. Apply as soon as that window and the income story are both true, then keep the code alive.

Income can still kill a perfect calendar

Fail either income test and there is no code and no grace period. How the £100,000 figure is built is on The £100k childcare cliff (England).

The cap is expected adjusted net income for the whole tax year, each parent separately. The floor is usually 16 hours a week at National Minimum / Living Wage from work over the next three months.

Do not apply on a hope. Do apply as soon as the year will honestly land under £100,000 — that slack is the 14-day evidence window and the 30-day review before the nursery’s date.

Lock extra salary sacrifice, a personal pension or Gift Aid before you click apply.
Prefer one payslip that already shows the lower run-rate.
If After adjusted net income is still over £100,000, do not apply as if you were under.

Will the extra pension leave you better off?

After the extra pension or Gift Aid	What that usually means
Cash same or up. Pension up. Hours on.	The hours came back and the money still exists — in a pension.
Cash down a bit. Pension up by more. Hours on.	You paid to get the hours. Decide if you need that cash for bills this year.
Cash down a lot. Pension up. Hours on.	Check how many terms are left, and whether salary sacrifice would have hurt cash less.
Year still finishes over £100,000.	You contributed and did not get the hours. Do not apply as if you were under.

Putting a large extra pension in before the code exists is a cash-flow risk. Many parents still judge it the right call when the year will land under £100,000 and they can cover fees either way.

Order of operations

Write down three dates — 23 weeks, first term hours can start, nursery code deadline.
Close or document the income gap before you apply.
Apply on the portal as soon as dates and income are both true.
Give the setting the code the same week it arrives.
Diary the first reconfirm if you applied early.
If they ask for evidence, the clock is 14 days.

What a missed first term costs

Scale sits on The £100k childcare cliff: about £2,900 extra for one missed term of 30 funded hours at England-average under-two rates, or about £2,300 if Tax-Free Childcare still runs.

Source: Coram Family and Childcare, Childcare Survey 2026.

FAQs

Should I apply the week the child turns 23 weeks, or wait?

Apply as soon as the child is old enough and you can honestly expect the tax year under £100,000. Then keep the code alive every 90 days.

What if I need more than the £60,000 pension annual allowance?

The £60,000 cap is you + employer + salary sacrifice. Carry-forward may exist. Money-purchase annual allowance is usually £10,000 if you have flexibly accessed a pot. None of that lets you confirm under £100,000 if the year will still finish over.

Where is the £100,000 figure explained?

On The £100k childcare cliff (England).