Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of applicants have not had their 30-hours free childcare code validated.

The department published data regarding the number of 30 hours codes issued and validated for the summer term on 12 April in ’30 hours free childcare eligibility codes issued and validated: April 2018’, which is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/30-hours-free-childcare-eligibility-codes-issued-and-validated.

The publication noted that, as of 9 April 2018, 327,558 (87%) of codes had been validated for summer out of a total 377,535 codes issued prior to 31 March 2018 – the deadline for summer applications. Therefore, 49,977 (13%) of codes had not been validated at this point in time.

As has been seen in previous terms, it is expected that the number and percentage of codes validated will continue to increase during the term as parents and providers confirm their childcare arrangements.