The nursery education grant is available to all three and four year old children from the first term after their third birthday. 

The funding entitles a child to a maximum of five 2.5 hour sessions (12.5hours) per week during term-time.

The funding is currently paid at a rate of £3.29 per hour.

Two 2.5 hour sessions may be taken in one day as long as they are separated by a one hour lunch break.

The term dates are 1st January, 1st April and 1st September.

We fill in all the forms on your behalf, you will just need to sign a form from the local education authority confirming your child’s details and the number of sessions you are claiming for. The funding is then paid directly to the nursery each term and we refund this to you when we receive it.

The table below shows the potential value of the grant towards your fees.

Number of sessions per week* and grant value each term

5 Sessions  - £520.92
4 Sessions  - £416.73
3 Sessions  - £312.55
2 Sessions  - £208.37
1 Session   - £104.18

* NB a session = 2.5 hours

Your child can stay at a session for a longer period than 2.5 hours but you will have to pay for the extra time yourself.

Please note that you may only claim a maximum of 12.5 hours per week in total, if your child attends more than one setting you must ensure that we are made aware of this in order to ensure that you do not claim more than the maximum allowed.

If you require more information about the nursery education grant, please contact the nursery manager or Halton Early Years Childcare Team Nursery Education Grant Administrator on 01928 704508.

Working parents can benefit from significant tax and NI savings of up to £1,195 a year using Childcare Vouchers, and up to double the amount if both parents are part of a Childcare Vouchers scheme.
Childcare Vouchers are an easy, straightforward way to make your childcare costs more affordable. This is because they are exempt from both income tax and National Insurance Contributions up to a value of £55 per week or £243 per month. You can have them in addition to your basic salary or through “salary sacrifice” whereby you exchange a certain amount of your salary for vouchers that you can then use to pay for your childcare fees. In fact, if you and your partner both work full time and you both decide to get the maximum £243 per month in vouchers to which you’re entitled, you could save up to £2,390 a year in tax and National Insurance!

For every £1000 you earn as a basic rate tax payer you'll only actually receive a little under £700 in your pay packet after tax and national insurance. For higher rate tax payers the savings is significantly more.

Each parent can get up to £243 of vouchers a month. So if both parents are in work this doubles to £486 per month, you will therefore save the tax and national insurance on this amount.

This will actually save them money by lowering their national insurance bill by around 12.8%.

If your employer does not already offer this scheme, we will be happy to talk to them or direct them to voucher providers who will set up a scheme for them.

If they already run a childcare voucher scheme all you need to do is ask for the amount of vouchers you need to pay your childcare bill.

Most voucher schemes send the fees directly to the nursery and this is credited against your child’s fees.