Funding options

Financial support with childcare costs for eligible families

We are pleased to offer Government-funded financial support for Early Years childcare for eligible families with children aged 9 months to 5 years.

The funding is designed to help parents and carers access and maintain employment, education and training by helping with childcare costs.

Who is this funding for?

This support is available to eligible families with children aged 9 months to 5 years where childcare costs may be a barrier to:

• Starting employment
• Starting education or training
• Continuing in employment
• Continuing education or training

Applications are considered individually, taking into account your family’s circumstances and identified needs.

We particularly encourage families to get in touch if one or more of the following applies:

• You are a lone parent
• You have a disabled adult and/or child in your family
• You have three or more children
• You are from a minority ethnic family
• You have a child under one year old
• The mother is under 25 years old

Funding available until March 2027

This is Government funding for Early Years childcare, available until 31 March 2027, subject to the availability of funding.

As funding is limited, eligibility and support will be assessed on an individual basis.

Please don’t assume you are not eligible. If you think this funding could help your family, speak to your Service Manager to find out more and discuss your circumstances.

Find out more

For further information or to discuss whether you may be eligible, please contact your Service Manager:

• Castlemilk: Michelle McCafferty, michelle.mccafferty@indigogrp.com
• The Village, East Kilbride: Ashley Given, ashley.given@indigogrp.com
• Garrowhill, Debby Larkin, debby.larkin@indigogrp.com

Ready to apply?

If you think you may be eligible for this Government-funded Early Years childcare support, you can complete our application form.

Please provide as much information as possible about your circumstances so that we can assess your application and identify the support available to you.

Please note: completing an application does not guarantee funding. All applications are subject to eligibility and available funding.

Supporting families in their next step

We are committed to helping Early Years families access the childcare they need to support employment, education and training opportunities.

If the cost of childcare is making it difficult for you to work, study or train, talk to us about the Government funding available.

OSC provides a safe, fun, inspiring, inclusive and nurturing environment for children with opportunities to join our exciting groups and activities, from Inclusion, Eco groups to learning BSL (British Sign Language).

Children can attend one of our Castleton or St Bartholomew’s Primary School bases.

Services include:

• Term time 7:30 am – 9 am and 3 pm-6:30 pm,
• Holiday cover 7:30 am-6:30 pm,
• Free drop-off/pick up service from Miller, Spittal, Croftfoot, Castleton, St.Bartholomew’s and John Paul II Primary schools.

Based in Castlemilk Youth Complex Indi Youth offers young people a youth work environment for young people and the safety and security of childcare for their parents/carers.

An innovative, fun and inclusive service designed to be led by young people for young people, where they can develop their independence, life skills and explore their interests.

Afternoon services (3 pm-6:30 pm) and holiday services (7:30 am-6:30 pm) are available.

If you are working and receive Universal Credit, you might be able to get up to 85% towards the cost of your childcare. For example, if the afterschool fees are £12.18 per session, you could receive up to 10.40 from the government, and then you only need to
contribute an additional £1.78.

If you are working and not eligible for universal credit due to higher earnings, you can still access support to cover 20% of childcare costs through the Tax-free Childcare System.

So, for example, if the after-school childcare fees are £12.18 per session, you could receive up to £2.40 from the government and only need to pay an additional £9.78.

Process:

• Parents/carers set up an online account
• For every £8 paid in, the government pays in £2 up to a maximum of £2000 a year (£4,000 for children with SEND)
• This account can be used to pay the childcare provider if that provider is registered for TFC
• Eligibility needs to be reconfirmed every three months

Eligibility

For working families, including the self-employed, in the UK

• Earning no more than £100k and at least £152 per week (equal to 16 hours at the National Minimum or Living Wage) each
• Are not receiving Tax Credits, Universal Credit or childcare vouchers
• With children aged 0-11 ( or 0-16 if disabled)
• Tax-Free Childcare (or Universal Credit) can be used to reduce the cost of any additional hours required above government-funded schemes.

Salary sacrifice (sometimes called salary exchange) is an arrangement between you and your employer that allows you to exchange part of your salary for a non-cash benefit.

This can include childcare costs and may offer tax and National Insurance (NI) savings by reducing your taxable income.

How salary sacrifice works

1. Contractual Agreement. You and your employer formally agree to change your employment contract.
2. Reduced Cash Salary. The agreed amount reduces your gross salary.
3. Childcare Benefit. In return, your employer pays this amount directly towards your childcare costs or provides another approved benefit, such as pension contributions, a company car, or a cycle-to-work scheme.

Important Things to Consider

• National Minimum Wage. Your salary after salary sacrifice must not fall below the National Minimum Wage.
• Impact on Other Benefits. As your cash salary is reduced, salary sacrifice may affect things like mortgage applications or entitlement to certain state benefits, which are often based on your take-home pay.

If you are considering using salary sacrifice to help pay for childcare, we recommend speaking with your employer or payroll provider to understand how it applies to your individual circumstances.