Checked against gov.uk: 6 September 2026
Every 3 months, through your childcare account. If you get the working parent entitlement or Tax-Free Childcare, gov.uk requires you to confirm your details are still up to date on that schedule, and missing the window can mean your code is not renewed.
Reconfirming isn't a formality, it's a fresh eligibility check. You're confirming that you (and your partner, if you have one) still meet the minimum income requirement, that your income is still below the £100,000 adjusted net income cap, and that your personal details are current. Your childcare account shows the earliest date you can reconfirm, usually 28 days before your deadline, so there's a window rather than a single day.
This is the routine case. You log in, confirm nothing material has changed, and your code is extended for another 3 months without any gap in your funded hours. Most parents only notice the process because of the reminder email or text prompting them to do it.
If your circumstances have changed, your income has dropped below the threshold, for example, your code won't be extended. The Department for Education's statutory guidance sets out a grace period for this situation: it runs to the end of the funding block you're in if you fall out of eligibility during its first half, or to the end of the following block if it's the second half. That gives you time to get back into work before the funded hours actually stop.
This is the part I couldn't find spelled out precisely. Gov.uk and the DfE guidance are clear that you must reconfirm every 3 months, but neither source I checked sets out, in so many words, what happens if you're still eligible but just forget to log in and reconfirm in time. In practice, your code is likely to lapse the same way it would if you'd been found ineligible, and parents in this position report having to reapply and, in some cases, losing funded hours for the rest of the current term. Treat it as a real deadline rather than a soft one, and if you do miss it, reconfirm as soon as you can and contact the childcare service helpline through your account to ask about your specific dates.
Don't wait for the final reminder. Reconfirm as soon as your account shows you're able to, since there's no downside to doing it early and a real downside to leaving it too late. If your income fluctuates, self-employment being the obvious case, keep a rough note of what you expect to earn over the next 3 months so reconfirming is a five-minute job rather than a scramble.
If a lapsed code means paying full price for a term while you sort it out, the childcare cost calculator can show you what that gap would actually cost, so you know what's at stake if reconfirmation slips.