Checked against gov.uk: 6 September 2026
Funded hours start on the next term start date, 1 January, 1 April or 1 September, not on the eligibility date printed on your code. The two dates are easy to confuse because they both live on the same document, but they answer different questions.
When you apply and get your 11-digit code, gov.uk assesses your circumstances as of that moment and issues a code with a start date and an end date. The start date on the code is often called the eligibility date, it's the date from which the system considers you eligible, and it can be well before term actually starts. Getting your code early doesn't make funded hours begin early, it just means you're holding a valid code ready for the deadline.
Funded terms run from three fixed points in the year, 1 January, 1 April and 1 September. Whatever triggered your eligibility, a new job, a pay rise, your child turning the right age, funded hours only ever switch on from one of these three dates. To get funded hours from a given term, your code needs to be valid by the end of the month before it starts, 31 December, 31 March or 31 August.
Say you apply in October and gov.uk issues a code with an eligibility date of 15 October. That date matters for the 31 December deadline, being eligible by mid-October comfortably clears it, but it doesn't mean funded hours start in October. They start on 1 January, the next term boundary. The 15 October date only tells you that you cleared the bar in time, not when the funding itself switches on.
Your code also carries an end date, which is when it needs reconfirming, every 3 months. That end date is unrelated to term boundaries too. It's entirely possible for your code to be valid, your eligibility date to be months in the past, and your reconfirmation to be due in the middle of a term that's already running. None of these three dates, eligibility, reconfirmation deadline, term start, move in step with each other, which is exactly why it's worth checking each one individually rather than assuming they line up.
When you get a code, look for three separate things: the date you became eligible, the date your code needs reconfirming, and the next term start date that applies to you. Only the third one tells you when funded hours actually begin. If your nursery or local authority quotes you a start date that doesn't match the next term boundary, ask them directly which of the three dates they're working from.
Once you know your real start date, the childcare cost calculator can show you the cost of any gap between becoming eligible and funded hours actually kicking in.