Help with childcare costs may be available for parents or carers who are in education.
School or sixth form
If you’re under 20 you could get childcare funding from. You must be under 20 at the start of your publicly-funded course. For more details visit Care to Learn.
If you’re aged 19 or over, on a further education course and facing financial hardship, you could get Learner Support.
Further education
Further education (FE) includes any study after secondary education that’s not part of higher education. This means it's not taken as part of an undergraduate or graduate degree. Find out about financial support for further education
Full-time higher education
You may be eligible for help with your learning costs if you’re a full-time student with children. This is called Parents’ Learning Allowance.
You can apply for a Childcare Grant if you’re in full-time higher education to pay for childcare costs for children:
- under 15
- under 17 if they have special needs
Hardship fund and bursaries
Some colleges offer a one-off payment to students who are facing extreme financial difficulties. Speak to student support or the welfare officer at your college.
For further information and additional funding of childcare see the Gov.uk links below:
- GOV.UK Parents Learning Allowance page
- GOV.UK Access to Learning Fund page
- Student Finance GOV.UK Student finance page
Other funding
NHS Childcare Allowance
If you are a health professional student and are in receipt of an NHS Bursary, you can apply for help with childcare costs. This is provided by the NHS Childcare Allowance. For more information, visit the NHS website
Professional and Career Development Loans
Eligible for those aged 18 and over, doing a postgraduate or vocational course. This loan can be used for any costs related to studying and training including childcare costs. You will have to repay this loan.
A Professional and Career Development Loan could affect your benefit entitlement. You may also need to contact your benefits adviser at Jobcentre Plus before applying. For further information, contact The National Careers Service on 0800 100 900. Useful information is also available at the GOV.UK Professional and Career Development Loans page.
Educational trusts and charities
Limited funding may be available from educational or charitable trusts for individual students. Your local reference or college library may have details of organisations that offer funding.
Some useful publications that have information about educational and charitable trusts are:
- The Guide to Educational Grants (published by the Directory of Social Change).
- The Grants Register (published by Macmillan Reference Limited).
- Charities Digest (published by Waterlow Information Services).
- The Directory of Grant Making Trusts (published by the Directory of Social Change)
The Educational Grants Search offers information on funding available if you are studying in post-16 education in England. For further information, visit the Family Action website.
Jobcentre Plus
Jobcentre Plus can assist financially in a number of ways to support the transition from benefits to education, training and employment.
Parents, particularly lone parents, should discuss with their Jobcentre Plus advisor about any possible help before any commitment is made to training and to ensure that they access all the financial and other support that they are entitled to.
For further information about the support you may be entitled to, visit the GOV.UK Help with moving from benefits to work page.