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Childcare Grant for Students: CCG1 Form

Student parents in full-time higher education can get help with learning costs. Check if you are eligible for extra financial help to cover your childcare and some course-related costs.

Childcare Support Grant

This help guide explains how to use CCG1 form and CCG2 form. Review how to create an online account with the SFE Childcare Grant Payment Service for 2022 to 2023 academic year.

The UK Childcare Grant for students is a weekly payment. Its main purpose is to support parents with dependent children while they continue studying.


How Much is the Child Care Grant?

Extra money from the grants are paid on top of regular student finance packages. So, you do not need to pay back Childcare Grant student finance.

In most cases you can get up to 85% of your childcare costs paid back. But, the amount you receive depends on:

  1. How many dependent children you have.
  2. The total cost of childcare for your children.
  3. Your household income (including income of your spouse or partner).

Childcare Grant Academic Year 2022 to 2023

Student families with dependent children and in full-time higher education may get up to:

  • £183.75 per week (for the first child)
  • £315.03 per week (if you have two or more children)

Childcare Grant Academic Year 2021 to 2022

Student families with dependent children and in full-time higher education may get up to:

  • £179.62 per week (for the first child)
  • £307.95 per week (if you have two or more children)

Childcare Grant Academic Year 2020 to 2021

Student families with dependent children and in full-time higher education may get up to:

  • £174.22 per week (for the first child)
  • £298.69 per week (if you have two or more children)

Note: Give full details about your childcare provider on your application form. If not, your first payment will be the least amount of £179.62 per week or 85% of your estimate.


Childcare Grant Payments

Starting from the 2020 to 2021 academic year, the grant is paid into a Childcare Grant Payment Service account. Student finance will send you an email explaining how to set up a CCGPS account.

Childcare Grant for Students in EnglandYou will be able to approve requests for payment sent by your childcare provider to your CCGPS.

Following that, the money in your account will go directly to your childcare provider.

There may be some money left over at the end of the academic year. If so, it will be returned to Student Finance England.

Previously, three separate instalments get paid straight into your bank account. SFE Childcare Grant payments go in at the start of each term throughout the academic year.

The payments do not usually affect income-related benefits for families, housing benefit, and unemployment welfare.

Note: You may not qualify if you (or your spouse) get the childcare element of the Working Tax Credit.


Childcare Grant Eligibility Criteria

How do you qualify for a Childcare Grant? The Childcare Grant eligibility criteria means all the following must apply:

  • You are a full-time student in higher education.
  • Your dependent child must be under 15 years old (under 17 if they have Special Educational Needs).
  • You already have a student finance package (or you qualify for one).
  • You are a permanent resident in England.
  • Children named in your Childcare Grant application are financially dependent on you.
  • Your childcare provider registers on the Ofsted Early Years Register or General Childcare Register. You can check with your child care provider.
  • If your child gets cared for at home the carer cannot be a relative. The carer must also be fully registered with an appropriate body. You can contact Student Finance England to check.

You are not eligible for the Childcare Grant if:

  • You are a part-time student or do not qualify for a student finance package.
  • If you receive a Postgraduate Loan.
  • You or your partner are claiming the childcare element of Working Tax Credits or the childcare element of Universal Credit.
  • The course started before the 1st of August 2017 and you or your partner receive help with childcare costs from the National Health Service.
  • It’s used to cover free childcare. That includes the free child care that all 3 and 4-year-olds are usually entitled to (15 or 30 hours a week).
  • Your child gets cared for by a relative or your partner mainly in the child’s home. This rule applies even if your relative or partner is a registered childminder.

The types of childcare services that qualify for the grant include:

  • An out-of-hours club run by a school or by an Education Authority registered by a Health and Social Services Trust.
  • A childminder, nursery or play scheme registered through a Health and Social Services Trust.
  • All approved foster carers providing the foster carer is not the foster parent of the child.
  • A carer in the child’s own home who gets approved under the Home Child Care Providers scheme.

Note: What does being ‘classed as a relative of the child’ mean? It refers to a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, brother or sister related by blood or marriage. It can also be a person with a strong relationship to the child (such as someone acting as a parent to their partner’s children).


Apply for Childcare Grant 2021 to 2022

  1. Apply online as part of your main application for student finance. Thus, the new process means there is no CCG1 form to fill in and send.
  2. Instead, send in the evidence requested from you when you apply online.
  3. Student finance will send you a letter stating how much Childcare Grant you will receive.
  4. You also need to create an online account with the Childcare Grant Payment Service (CCGPS). The money from the grant goes into this account.

Important: You can apply for Childcare Grant online alongside your main student finance application starting from the 2020/21 academic year. The GOV.UK website has more information for students who are reapplying for Childcare Grant as a continuing student in 2019/20.


Childcare Grant 2019 to 2020 Academic Year

  1. Send an estimate of your childcare costs to Student Finance England. You should use the Childcare Grant CCG1 Application Form.
  2. Remember to send proof of the child or children’s identity. You must also send proof of their financial dependence on you. That could be their original birth certificate, tax credits details, or Child Benefit.
  3. You will receive a letter informing you how much Childcare Grant you can get entitlement to.
  4. You and your childcare provider must confirm your childcare costs during each academic term. You should use the Childcare Grant CCG2 Form for this step.
  5. Your next payment may get adjusted. That happens if the actual childcare costs are higher or lower than your estimated costs.

Use the form finder if you already applied for student finance but did not apply for a grant at the same time or you want to apply for another child.


Student Finance Childcare Grant Form

What happens when you have completed your main student finance application? You should estimate your childcare costs using the CCG1 Application Form.

  • Academic Year 2019 to 2020: ‘Download CCG1 Form 2019/2020 England Childcare Grant Application’.

Use Childcare Grant CCG2 Form for the academic year that the costs relate to. That is how you confirm your actual childcare costs during each academic term.

  • Academic Year 2018 to 2019: ‘Download CCG2 Form 2018/19 England Childcare Costs Confirmation’

Important: Another section explains how to download Student Finance forms and associated guidance notes (e.g. PN1, PR1, PTG1, PFF2 and CYI).


Childcare Grant Mailing Address

You need to meet the eligible criteria for student finance before you can apply for a Childcare Grant. In general, qualification will depend on your age, and:

  • Your university or college and your course
  • Whether you studied a higher education course before
  • Your nationality or residency status

Student Finance England
PO Box 210
Darlington
DL1 9HJ


RELATED HELP GUIDES


Childcare Grant Eligibility: Application Form CCG1 and CCG2