Overview
Working Parents Entitlement (WPE) gives eligible working parents funded childcare hours from the term after their child turns 9 months up to age 4. Parents can get up to 30 funded hours a week during term time.
Parents should visit the Best Start in Life website to check eligibility.
What the entitlement includes
For 3 and 4 year olds, WPE gives an extra 15 hours a week on top of the universal 15 hours, making 30 hours a week for 38 weeks a year.
Children can use up to 1,140 funded hours a year. You can offer these as:
- 15 to 30 hours a week for 38 weeks
- a stretched offer across the year with fewer weekly hours
You do not have to offer the full 30 hours. Some parents may only need a few extra hours, or you may link with another provider to offer a joint package.
Who can offer it
Your setting must be one of the following:
- registered on the Ofsted Early Years Register
- an independent school registered with the Department for Education
- an academy
- a childminder registered with Ofsted or with an Ofsted-registered childminding agency
Childminders cannot claim for related children.
Your setting must also:
- be on the Surrey County Council Directory of Providers
- agree to the Surrey County Council Provider Agreement
Find out how to register to provide funded early education.
How to offer it
The government’s Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities sets out how you must deliver the entitlement.
Key rules include:
- Parents must apply through the Best Start in Life website.
- You can open between 6am and 8pm, with no more than 10 hours each session and no minimum session length
- Parents can use hours at up to 2 sites per day and up to 3 providers a year.
- Funding covers 38 weeks a year or can be stretched across the year at reduced weekly hours (22.35 hours per week over 51 weeks).
- Providers may charge refundable deposits (see the Surrey Provider Agreement).
- Invoices and admissions policies must clearly show which hours are funded and which are charged.
- Providers may charge for meals, snacks, consumables and optional extras, but must offer alternatives so charges are not a barrier.
- Parents can get Tax-Free Childcare to help with additional costs.
Check if parents are eligible
Parents must apply through the Best Start for Life website. If eligible, they will get an 11 digit code.
A child can only start using WPE hours from the term after the code’s validity start date.
Check eligibility codes
Before offering a place, check a parent’s code. You may need to check again if time has passed.
You must get a completed eligibility consent form, then check the code in the portal:
- go to Dashboard
- select Age Eligibility checks
- enter the parent’s details
You’ll get an instant result.
What code results mean
Code checks give three dates:
Validity start date - the date the parent’s first successful application was approved. This date stays the same unless the parent becomes ineligible and later successfully reapplies. If they reapply, HMRC will issue a new validity start date.
Validity end date - the date the parent’s current eligibility period ends. After this date, the grace period begins. When the parent reconfirms their eligibility every three months, HMRC moves the validity end date forward by around three months.
Grace period end date - the final date a child can receive Working Parents Entitlement if the parent does not reconfirm their eligibility. If the parent reconfirms during the grace period, this date will extend. If they do not, funding will stop after the grace period ends.
The portal automatically rechecks eligibility and will notify you if a parent becomes ineligible.
If a parent loses eligibility, they can still claim:
- universal 15 hours for 3 and 4 year olds
- Early Learning for 2 year olds (if eligible)
Reconfirming eligibility
Parents must reconfirm their details every 3 months.
DfE sends parents a text message and an email 4 weeks before the validity end date. They send another reminder 2 weeks before, if the parent has not reconfirmed.
DfE does not include a link in these messages. If a parent gets a message asking them to click a link to reconfirm, it is likely to be phishing.
Parents will also see a secure message in their Childcare Service account.
Claiming the entitlement
Funding is paid directly to childcare providers.
To claim:
- Apply to become a funded early education provider.
- Join the Directory of Providers.
- Submit your claims through the EYES Establishment Portal.
Providers claim on a term‑time basis (38 weeks).
You may stretch hours, but at some points you may offer more hours than you can claim. In this case, you may need to invoice parents at your standard rate — make this clear in your terms and conditions.
See the Stretched funding guidance.
Payment rates
From April 2026:
- £6.42 per hour for 3 and 4 year olds
- £9.40 per hour for 2 year olds
- £13.21 per hour for under 2s
You may also be able to claim:
Before you offer WPE
You may want to think about:
- how many eligible parents may need the hours and how they want to use them
- whether to stretch hours across more weeks
- how many places to offer for each entitlement
- mixed models for sustainability
- what to do if you cannot open for 30 hours
- linking with other providers
- extending hours such as lunch or wraparound
- your capacity and available space
- adapting or extending the premises
- revising your admissions policy
- revising your application forms to include the Working Parents Entitlement code
- handling appeals
- marketing your provision
- staffing, wages and training
Contact us
Funded Early Education Team
Email: fundedearlyeducation@surreycc.gov.uk
Post:
Woodhatch Place
11 Cockshot Hill
Reigate
RH2 8EF
For updates, sign up to the Childcare professionals update e‑bulletin.
Files available to download
-
Working parents entitlement eligibility consent form – Childcare (PDF)
Form for childcare settings to use to collect parent's consent to share their information with the local authority.