Legalize / United Kingdom / Statutory-Instrument

The Childcare (Free of Charge for Working Parents) (England) Regulations 2022

Type Statutory-Instrument

Publication 2022-11-08

State In force

Department King's Printer of Acts of Parliament

Source legislation.gov.uk

Reform history JSON API PDF

Made: 8th November 2022

Laid before Parliament: 10th November 2022

Coming into force: 1st December 2022

In accordance with section 2(3) of the Childcare Act 2016, these Regulations are made with the consent of the Treasury.

PART 1 — Preliminary provisions

Citation and commencement

1

These Regulations—

(a) may be cited as the Childcare (Free of Charge for Working Parents) (England) Regulations 2022, and

(b) come into force on 1st December 2022.

Extent and application

2

These Regulations—

(a) extend to England and Wales, and

(b) apply in relation to England.

Consequential amendments and revocations

3

Schedule 1 makes consequential amendments and revocations.

PART 2 — Interpretation

Definitions

4

(1) In these Regulations—

“the Act” means the Childcare Act 2016;

“adjusted net income” has the meaning given in section 58 of the Income Tax Act 2007[^f00002];

“care plan” has the meaning given in regulation 5;

“Chief Inspector” means His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills;

“childcare provider” has the meaning given in regulation 6;

“childminder” means a person registered as—an early years childminder with domestic premises under section 37(1) or 37A(1) of the 2006 Act;an early years childminder without domestic premises under section 37(2A) or 37A(1A) of the 2006 Act;an early years provider other than a childminder under section 37(2) or 37A(2) of the 2006 Act in respect of early years provision which would be early years childminding, at least some or all of which is on domestic premises, but for section 96(5) of the Act;

“the Commissioners” means the Commissioners for His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs;

“declaration” means a declaration under section 1(2)(e) of the Act;

“early years childminder agency” has the meaning given in section 98(1) of the Childcare Act 2006[^f00004];

“employee” has the meaning given in regulation 7;

“the First-tier Tribunal” means the tribunal established under section 3(1) of the Tribunal, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007[^f00005];

“foster parent” has the meaning given in regulation 8;

“inspection report” means—in relation to an early years childminder agency, a report under section 51E of the Childcare Act 2006[^f00006];in relation to a childcare provider, a report under any of the following— . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .section 5 of the Education Act 2005[^f00007];section 50 of the Childcare Act 2006[^f00008];section 109 of the Education and Skills Act 2008[^f00009];

“limited capability for work” means limited capability for work under—regulation 39 of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013, orregulation 40 of the Universal Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016;

“limited capability for work and work-related activity” means limited capability for work and work-related activity under—regulation 40 of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013, orregulation 41 of the Universal Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016;

“looked after by a local authority” has the meaning given in regulation 9;

“partner” has the meaning given in regulation 10;

“relevant tax year” means, in relation to a declaration, the tax year in which the declaration is made;

“responsible local authority” means—in relation to a child who meets the description in regulation 9(1)(a), the local authority who looks after the child, orin relation to a child who meets the description in regulation 9(1)(b), (c) or (d), the English local authority for the area in which the child may be a qualifying child of working parents;

“review” means a review under regulation 36;

“specified benefit” has the meaning given in regulation 11A;

“tax year” has the meaning given in section 4(2) of the Income Tax Act 2007.

(2) The following table—

(a) sets out the expressions of the Act used in these Regulations, and

(b) shows where in that Act each of those expressions is defined.

Expression used in these Regulations	Location of definition in the Act
“childcare”	sections 1(9) and 2(8)
“English local authority”	section 2(8)
“parent”	section 1(9)
“qualifying child of working parents”	section 1(2)
“young child”	section 1(9)

Meaning of “care plan”

5

A “care plan” is any of the following—

(a) a care plan within the meaning given in regulation 2(1) of the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010[^f00012];

(b) arrangements recorded in writing under regulation 3(5) of the Arrangements for Placement of Children (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996[^f00013];

(d) a care and support plan maintained under section 83 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014[^f00015].

Meaning of “childcare provider”

6

(1) A “childcare provider” is an early years provider—

(a) who is not an excluded provider, and

(b) to whom section 40 of the Childcare Act 2006 (duty to implement Early Years Foundation Stage) applies.

(2) An excluded provider is any of the following—

(a) an independent school, other than an Academy school, that does not meet the standards prescribed under section 157(1)(b) of the Education Act 2002[^f00016] (which relate to the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils at independent schools);

(b) an early years provider any English local authority has reasonable grounds to believe—

(i) does not actively promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs, or

(ii) promotes as evidence-based views or theories those contrary to established scientific or historical evidence and explanations.

(3) In this regulation—

“Academy school” has the meaning given in section 1A of the Academies Act 2010[^f00017];

“early years provider” has the meaning given in section 96(3) of the Childcare Act 2006.

Meaning of “employee”

7

(1) An “employee” is any of the following—

(a) a person in employment under a contract of service ...;

(b) a person who is the holder of an office (including an elected office);

(d) a person who expects, in relation to a declaration, to be a person mentioned in any of paragraphs (a) to (c) within the applicable period.

(2) In this regulation—

“applicable period” means, in relation to a person (“P”) who expects to become a person mentioned in any of paragraph (1)(a) to (c) on a date in the period specified in the first column of the table, the period specified in the corresponding second column of the table.P expects to become a person mentioned in any of paragraph (1)(a) to (c) in the period—Applicable period—ibeginning with 1st February and ending with the next 30th Aprilbegins with 1st January immediately preceding the start of the period specified in the first column and ends with the next 30th Apriliibeginning with 1st May and ending with the next 30th Septemberbegins with 1st April immediately preceding the start of the period specified in the first column and ends with the next 30th Septemberiiibeginning with 1st October and ending with the next 31st Januarybegins with 1st September immediately preceding the start of period specified in the first column and ends with the next 31st January;

“office” has the meaning given in section 5(3) of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003[^f00018];

“relevant Chapter” means any of Chapters 7 to 10 of Part 2 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003[^f00019] (which relate to agency workers and workers’ services provided through intermediaries or managed service companies).

Meaning of “foster parent”

8

(1) A “foster parent” is any of the following—

(a) a person who—

(i) is approved as a local authority foster parent in accordance with regulations made by virtue of paragraph 12F of Schedule 2 to the Children Act 1989[^f00020], and

(ii) has a child placed with the person under section 22C(5) of that Act[^f00021];

(b) a person who—

(i) is an authority foster parent within the meaning given in article 27(3) of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995[^f00022], and

(ii) has a child placed with the person under article 27(2)(a) of that Order;

(i) is a foster carer within the meaning given in regulation 2 of the Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009, and

(ii) has a child placed with the person pursuant to a permanence order under section 80 of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007[^f00023];

(d) a person who—

(i) is a local authority foster parent within the meaning given in section 197(1) of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014[^f00024], and

(ii) has a child placed with the person under section 81(5) of that Act.

Meaning of “looked after by a local authority”

9

(1) A young child is “looked after by a local authority” if the child is any the following—

(a) a child who is looked after by a local authority within the meaning given in section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989[^f00025];

(b) a child who is looked after by an authority within the meaning given in article 25(1) of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995;

(c) a child who is looked after by a local authority within the meaning given in section 17(6) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995[^f00026];

(d) a child who is looked after by a local authority within the meaning given in section 74(1) of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014.

(2) Despite paragraph (1), a young child is not looked after by a local authority during any period the child is—

(a) being looked after by an English local authority for the purposes of providing a brief respite for the person with whom the child normally lives,

(b) placed with a foster parent (see regulation 8), or

(i) section 22C(2) of the Children Act 1989,

(ii) article 27(2)(a) of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995,

(iii) regulation 8(1) or 11 of the Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009, or

(iv) section 81(2) of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014.

Meaning of “partner”

10

(1) A person is a “partner” of another person if—

(a) the person is—

(i) married to, or the civil partner of, the other person, and

(ii) a member of the same household as the other person, or

(b) the person is living together with the other person as if they were a married couple or civil partners.

(2) Despite paragraph (1), a person is not a partner of another person if either person is—

(a) under 16 years of age,

(b) serving a sentence of imprisonment, or

(3) A person is not a member of the same household as, or living together with, another person if—

(a) the person is absent, and

(b) the absence exceeds, or is expected to exceed, 6 months.

Meaning of “person in the United Kingdom”

11

(1) A “person in the United Kingdom” is any of the following—

(a) a person who is—

(i) ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, ...

(ii) not a person taxed as if they were not so resident by virtue of double taxation arrangements , and

(iii) not a person subject to immigration control;

(b) a person who is—

(i) a resident of an EEA State or Switzerland,

(ii) in paid work in the United Kingdom, and

(iii) not a person subject to immigration control;

(i) refugee permission to stay or temporary refugee permission to stay under rule 339QA of the Immigration Rules, or

(ii) temporary humanitarian permission to stay under rule 339QB of the Immigration Rules;

(d) a person who has been granted, or deemed to have been granted, outside the Immigration Rules—

(i) discretionary leave to remain[^f00027], or

(ii) leave to remain under the destitution domestic violence concession[^f00028];

(e) a person who—

(i) has been deported, expelled or otherwise removed by compulsion of law from another country to the United Kingdom, and

(ii) is not a person subject to immigration control.

(2) In this regulation—

“a person subject to immigration control” has the meaning given in section 115(9) of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999[^f00029];

“double taxation arrangements” means arrangements that have effect under section 2(1) of the Taxation (International and Other Provisions) Act 2010[^f00030];

“the Immigration Rules” means the rules laid before Parliament under section 3(2) of the Immigration Act 1971[^f00031];

“paid work” means work done for payment or in expectation of payment and does not include being engaged by a charitable or voluntary organisation, or as a volunteer, in circumstances in which the payment received by or due to be paid to the person is in respect of expenses.

When periods begin and end

12

A period of time described in these Regulations in a manner set out in the table is calculated in accordance with the corresponding rule.

*If the period is described as—*	*then the period—*
beginning or ending with a specified day	includes that specified day.
being within a specified number of days of a specified day	does not include that specified day.
ending before a specified day	does not include that specified day.

PART 3 — Determinations as to qualifying children of working parents

Description of young child

13

(1) This regulation relates to section 1(2)(c) of the Act[^f00032].

(2) A young child must be a child who—

(a) has attained the age of nine months, and

(b) is not looked after by a local authority (see regulation 9).

Conditions relating to parent and partner of parent

Conditions relating to parent

14

(1) This regulation relates to section 1(2)(d) of the Act[^f00033].

(2) A parent of a young child must be a parent mentioned in paragraph (3) or (4).

(3) A parent who—

(a) meets the qualifying paid work requirement in regulation 16 or 17,

(b) seeks the childcare, which is available free of charge by virtue of the Act, to enable the parent, or the parent’s partner (if any), to work,

(i) expect their adjusted net income to exceed £100,000,

(ii) make a claim under section 809B of the Income Tax Act 2007 (which relates to certain residents not domiciled in the United Kingdom), or

(iii) expect section 809E of Income Tax Act 2007 to apply (which relates to certain residents not domiciled in the United Kingdom), and

(d) if a foster parent of the young child, has confirmation from the responsible local authority that it is satisfied that engaging in paid work other than as a foster parent is consistent with the child’s care plan (see regulation 5).

(4) A parent who—

(a) has a partner mentioned in regulation 15(3), and

(b) is any of the following—

(i) a person with limited capability for work;

(ii) a person with limited capability for work and work-related activity;

(iii) a person entitled to a specified benefit;

(iv) a resident of an EEA State or Switzerland who is, under the law of the EEA State or Switzerland, entitled to a benefit of a kind that is substantially similar to a specified benefit.

(5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Conditions relating to partner of parent

15

(1) This regulation relates to section 1(2)(d) of the Act[^f00045].

(2) If a parent of a young child has a partner, the partner must be a person mentioned in paragraph (3) or (4).

(3) A person who—

(a) meets the qualifying paid work requirement in regulation 16 or 17,

(b) does not for the relevant tax year—

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