Charity Pregnant Then Screwed say they there is 'chaos' around the government's new 15 hours childcare offering for two-year-olds, with only one in 10 parents able to access a code - and only 55% saying they've found a nursery or setting who will accept the offer.
Access to the government's new scheme - which is to give working parents that are eligible, 15 hours of free childcare when children turn two - opened earlier this month.
Pregnant Then Screwed (PTS) says they surveyed 6,058 parents who are eligible for the new funding and found parents are in 'complete chaos' trying to access it.
PTS found that only 11% of those surveyed could get a code and 17% didn't understand how it works.
Readers had previously also told The Juggle they were disappointed that the eligibility scheme was the same as existing hours provisions, meaning if one parent earns more than £100k, they don't get funding.
Some told the charity they'd repeatedly tried to get the code but ended up in a constant loop back to the login page - others say they were 'being sent on a wild goose chase with incorrect advice from the childcare helpline'.
One, Danielle, from Norwich told them: 'The first time I called, I was on hold for four hours, only to be hung up on. I called the following day and waited another three hours. I can’t express my frustration at the usability of this system - people who work, who have young kids and need childcare don’t have that sort of time.'
More than half of parents (55%) said they've found their provider won't accept the codes for the new scheme and more than a third (34%) say their nursery is unable to confirm if they'll be able to. The charity says this could be due to a lack of necessary information from local authorities.
Worryingly PTS say some childcare settings are additionally stopping the government scheme for three and four-year-olds due to underfunding.
Georgina, a mum of three from Northamptonshire, said: 'On the January 2, my nursery dropped the bombshell that they "cannot afford to continually take a hit on the deficit between our daily rate and what we are receiving from the Government - even with charging parents a consumable (top up).” So therefore they are opting out of the 15/30 hour government funding from April 2024.
'This means by May, my monthly outgoing on childcare alone will be close to £2000 pcm! For context, our mortgage is £1300 pcm (up from £995 pcm last year). I just do not know how or if we can afford this and it adds insult to injury that there is funding we’re entitled to yet can’t utilise due to not enough provision in the area we live.'
CEO and Founder of PTS Joeli Brearley said: 'We have been inundated with messages from frantic parents who don’t understand the system, or expect to receive their code too late. Meanwhile, many providers haven’t been given the information they need from their local authority to decipher what their income will be from April onwards. Parents can’t access their codes, providers can’t do their financial forecasting - it’s bedlam.'
How does applying for the childcare codes work?
Parents should be able to access codes through the same portal used for tax-free childcare.
But parents are discovering they can't apply for a code until their reconfirmation window opens - this happens every three months and is where you reconfirm your financial situation and that you're still eligible for things like tax-free childcare accounts and the current 15 or 30 hours offering for over threes. So some families won't be able to do this until late March, or even April - after the scheme starts. On top of this, a quarter of parents say their nursery or provider has given them a deadline to provide their code. And 49% of those people say the deadline is before their reconfirmation is possible.
PTS say the Department for Education has made it clear that there should not be any deadlines before the 31st March, adding additional administrative pressure on providers. Parents can also reconfirm up to four weeks before the end of their eligibility period.
Joeli added: 'With just 1 in 10 parents successfully accessing their code, the majority are still unsure as to whether they will be able to secure the funded hours they so desperately need. Why does it often feel as though these schemes are drafted on the back of a fag packet without proper consideration for the end user?
'Parents struggling to understand the system or trying to secure their code are told to call the childcare services helpline, but parents we have spoken to complain of being on call waiting for very long periods, with many saying the line then cuts out. Our benefit helpline isn’t able to keep up with demand, and we’re being flooded with messages. We’ve become a childcare helpline for the government overnight.'
A Government Spokesperson said: 'The childcare application system is working as intended, with thousands of parents applying for and receiving codes to access their new free childcare entitlements every day.
'We are working to ensure all parents can access their codes in time to use the new entitlements in April and confirm childcare places as soon as possible.'