Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government has considered allowing parents to use their remaining 30 hours of free childcare entitlement in September if their child has a staggered start to reception.

Children remain eligible for the free entitlement until they either start in reception at a state-funded school or reach compulsory school age.

A child attending a state-funded reception class on a part-time basis is entitled to additional free hours at another provider if the child’s parents have a 30 hours eligibility code. The maximum number of free hours in both the school reception class and another provider is 1140 hours per year.

Children who start on a staggered basis are not considered part-time and are counted as taking up a full-time place, with full-time attendance expected by the end of September.