Childminder Invoicing from January 2026

Childminders might need to change the way they invoice parents from January 2026. DfE has included a free template on their Early education and childcare funding page.

To comply with DfE updated statutory guidance on invoicing, if a family is funded any additional payments you ask parents to make must be set out on your invoice in a clear and transparent way.

From January 2026, your parent invoices will need to show:

Funded hours

Set out the number of hours a child is entitled to for the term and the number of hours they have taken. You can then provide parents with a count-down from the total hours for the term to 0 when the funding has been delivered These hours must be free.

Note that if children do not attend and you have not delivered all the funded hours paid for by the LA, you might be asked by the LA to pay back some of the funding. This will be a local decision, so you will need to check your LA policy.

Non-funded hours

Show the additional privately paid hours the child is booked to attend you setting at your normal hourly or daily rate. These charges must be separate from any funding, so parents can see what they are paying for in addition to their free hours.

Food charges

If you ask parents to pay for food (or a contribution towards food) the fee must be clear on the invoice and parents must know that it is optional and they can send food for their child instead. DfE states that you might want a packed lunch policy if parents want to send in food.

You can see free sample childminder policies on our website including a packed lunch policy

Note that you will need to add parent payments to the ‘income’ section of your expenses and a ‘reasonable estimate’ of your food costs to the ‘expenses’ section of your accounts for HMRC purposes.

Also note that some Local Authorities have advised providers that it is ‘financial discrimination’ to only charge extra for a certain age-range of children.

Non-food consumables

You can charge parents for nappies, wipes and sun cream if agreed. The charge must be on a separate line on the invoice so parents can see it clearly. Again, this charge must be optional, and parents can send in their own supplies.

Outings / extras

You can charge, with agreement from parents, for any extra activities you do with the children - for example, attending toddler groups. This payment can be grouped together as a total on the parent invoice, but to be transparent it is recommended that you also share details about what parents are paying for – for example, £5 for toddler group (date).

Note if parents do not want to pay for this service, you will need to either pay for the child yourself or not arrange it and adapt your curriculum. You must deliver high quality education for all children regardless of whether parents are happy to make additional payments or not.

Voluntary payment

DfE has stated that you cannot charge funded parents ‘top up’ fees or for materials (paper, crafts etc), business running costs, registration fees or non-refundable deposits. However, if a parent wants to make a voluntary contribution to support your business, they can do so. This must be specified on the parent invoice as ‘voluntary payment’.

In all cases, you cannot force additional charges for the funded hours – parents must be informed that they can opt out, the payments are voluntary, not a condition of a child accessing a place and non-payment will not affect their child’s provision of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).

If you are a group setting, you must put this information on your website and Local Authority advert. DfE has stated that childminders can opt out of this requirement (see paragraph A1.35 of the DfE statutory guidance) but some LAs are requiring them to add the information on their LA advertising page.

Question from members – do I have to do invoices?

It is, of course, up to you how you manage your business. DfE statutory guidance states that you do need to provide parents with invoices and has a helpful guide on the website to show the new invoice layout expectations. If you are audited for funding by your Local Authority, they will look at invoices and how they are set out to comply with the DfE statutory guidance from January 2026. If you are unsure, I suggest you ask locally if you are unsure.

If you have any further questions, you can read the DfE guidance and our childminder guidance