Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what support for childcare is available to working parents who have no recourse to public funds.

All three and four year olds in England are entitled to the 15 hour universal entitlement to free early education for 38 weeks of the year regardless of the immigration status of the child or their parents.

Parents who have the right to live and work in the UK are eligible for an additional 15 hours a week of free childcare for three and four year old children.

Parents who are from outside the EEA and have no recourse to public funds are not entitled to the additional hours of free childcare for three and four year old children. However, if they have a British partner, an EEA national partner or a non-EEA national who is not subject to immigration control, they can receive the additional free hours of childcare if it is that other partner who makes the application for 30 hours.

Children of families with no recourse to public funds with a right to remain in the UK on grounds of private and family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and children of Zambrano carers have recently become eligible for the free early education entitlement for the most disadvantaged two year old children in England provided they come within the income threshold.