The new ratios will give providers more flexibility, without compromising children’s safety or quality of provision. The government will also change the staff-to-child ratios for 2-year-olds, moving from 1:4 to 1:5 to align with Scotland and comparable countries, and will consult on further measures to give providers flexibility.

This funding is additional to the £4.1 billion that the government will provide by 2027-28 to facilitate the expansion of the new free hours. The government will provide £204m of additional funding this year, increasing to £288m by 2024-25.

The government will also substantially uplift the hourly rate paid to providers to deliver existing free hours offers.

Where parents need childcare for more than 38 weeks a year, they are able to spread their free hours entitlement over a higher number of weeks.

From September 2025 all working parents of children aged 9 months up to 3 years old can access 30 hours free childcare per week.From September 2024, all working parents of children aged 9 months up to 3 years old can access 15 hours per week.From April 2024, all working parents of 2-year-olds can access 15 hours per week.Working parents in England will be able to access 30 hours of free childcare per week, for 38 weeks of the year, from when their child is 9 months old to when they start school.We are helping parents with childcare so they can return to work more easily via a range of new measures. In the Spring Budget we are setting out a package of measures designed to support people to enter work, increase their working hours and extend their working lives.

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