{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/childcare-payments-eligibility-regulations-2015/regulation-9",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/childcare-payments-eligibility-regulations-2015/regulation-9.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/2015/448",
  "legislation_title": "The Childcare Payments (Eligibility) Regulations 2015",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/childcare-payments-eligibility-regulations-2015",
  "path": "regulation/9",
  "kind": "regulation",
  "number": "9",
  "heading": "The requirement to be in qualifying paid work",
  "text": "(1) For the purposes of the Act, a person is in qualifying paid work if the person or any partner holds a National Insurance Number (“NINo”) and—\n(a) the person is in paid work as an employed person whose expected income from the work in the period specified in paragraph (4) is greater than or equal to the relevant threshold; or\n(b) the person is in paid work as a self-employed person and either—\n(i) the person's expected income from the work in the period specified in paragraph (4) is greater than or equal to the relevant threshold; or\n(ii) the person's expected income from the work in the period specified in paragraph (5) is greater than or equal to ... the threshold specified in paragraph (5A);\n(c) the person is in paid work as an employed person and as a self-employed person and the person’s expected income from the work in the period specified in paragraph (4) is greater than or equal to the relevant threshold; or\n(d) the person is in paid work as an employed person or as a self-employed person, the person’s expected income does not meet the requirements of sub-paragraphs (a) or (b) due to coronavirus, and the person—\n(i) is receiving payments under a coronavirus support scheme; or\n(ii) has made a claim for and is reasonably expecting to receive payments under a coronavirus support scheme; or\n(iii) is intending to make a claim under a coronavirus support scheme, with the reasonable expectation of the claim being agreed; or\n(iv) is employed by an employer who is claiming a grant under a coronavirus support scheme to cover a proportion of the person’s normal earnings.\n(1A) The requirement to hold a NINo in paragraph (1) does not apply to a person’s partner who is resident and in paid work in a prescribed state.\n(2) For the purposes of this regulation, where a person—\n(a) has accepted an offer of work on or before the date of the declaration of eligibility; or\n(b) is absent from work on unpaid leave on the date of the declaration of eligibility and intends to return to work;\nthat person is to be treated as in paid work as an employed person during the applicable period.\n(2A) In this regulation—\n“applicable period” means, in respect of a person (“P”) the period specified in the entry in column 2 of the table which corresponds with the entry in column 1 of the table which contains, at the date that P makes the declaration of eligibility, P’s expected work start date.\nColumn 1\nColumn 2\nP’s expected work start date falls in the period—\nApplicable period—\n(i) beginning with 1st February and ending with the next 30th April\nbegins with 1st January immediately preceding the start of the period specified in the first column and ends with the day before the day on which P starts or returns to work.\n(ii) beginning with 1st May and ending with the next 30th September\nbegins with 1st April immediately preceding the start of the period specified in the first column and ends with the day before the day on which P starts or returns to work.\n(iii) beginning with 1st October and ending with the next 31st January\nbegins with 1st September immediately preceding the start of the period specified in the first column and ends with the day before the day on which P starts or returns to work\n“expected work start date” means the date, at the time the person makes the declaration of eligibility, on which a person expects to begin a new job or return to work after a period of absence on unpaid leave or leave within regulation 12(1)(b) to (g), (i) to (m), (p) or (q).\n(3) A person's “expected income” is the income which the person has a reasonable expectation of receiving, calculated in accordance with regulation 10.\n(4) The period specified in this paragraph is—\n(a) the period of 3 months beginning with the date of the declaration of eligibility; or\n(b) if paragraph (2)(a) or (2)(b) applies, the period of 3 months beginning with the day on which the work is expected to start or the person is expected to return to work.\n(5) The period specified in this paragraph is, in relation to a declaration of eligibility, the tax year in which the date of the declaration falls.\n(5A) The threshold specified in this paragraph is the product of the calculation—\nMxWwhere\nM is the minimum weekly income based on the person’s age on the ... 6th April of the tax year in which the declaration of eligibility was made; and\nW is 52.\n(6) In this regulation, “the relevant threshold” is the product of the calculation—\nM × Wwhere—\nM is the minimum weekly income based on the hourly rate applicable to the person at the date of the declaration of eligibility; and\nW is the number of weeks in the period specified in paragraph (4).",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Words in reg. 9(1) inserted (14.11.2016) by The Childcare Payments (Eligibility) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 2016 (S.I. 2016/1021), regs. 1, 3(2)(a)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "Word in reg. 9(1) substituted (7.12.2017) by The Childcare Payments (Eligibility) (Amendment) Regulations 2017 (S.I. 2017/1101), regs. 1, 3(a)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F3",
      "text": "Words in reg. 9(1)(b)(ii) omitted (7.12.2017) by virtue of The Childcare Payments (Eligibility) (Amendment) Regulations 2017 (S.I. 2017/1101), regs. 1, 3(b)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F4",
      "text": "Words in reg. 9(1)(b)(ii) substituted (14.11.2016) by The Childcare Payments (Eligibility) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 2016 (S.I. 2016/1021), regs. 1, 3(2)(b)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F5",
      "text": "Reg. 9(1)(c)(d) inserted (22.7.2021) by The Childcare Payments (Miscellaneous Amendment) Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/781), regs. 1, 2(6)(b)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F6",
      "text": "Word in reg. 9(1)(c) substituted (1.12.2022) by The Childcare Payments (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/1148), regs. 1, 2(3)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F7",
      "text": "Reg. 9(1A) inserted (14.11.2016) by The Childcare Payments (Eligibility) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 2016 (S.I. 2016/1021), regs. 1, 3(3)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F8",
      "text": "Words in reg. 9(1A) substituted (7.12.2017) by The Childcare Payments (Eligibility) (Amendment) Regulations 2017 (S.I. 2017/1101), regs. 1, 3(d)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F9",
      "text": "Words in reg. 9(1A) substituted (22.7.2021) by The Childcare Payments (Miscellaneous Amendment) Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/781), regs. 1, 2(6)(c)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F10",
      "text": "Reg. 9(2)(2A) substituted for reg. 9(2) (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending S.I.) by The Childcare Payments (Eligibility) (Amendment and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2025 (S.I. 2025/857), regs. 1(1), 2(2) (with reg. 3)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F11",
      "text": "Word in reg. 9(2A) table substituted (6.4.2026) by The Childcare Payments (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 2026/279), regs. 1, 2(2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F12",
      "text": "Reg. 9(5A) inserted (14.11.2016) by The Childcare Payments (Eligibility) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 2016 (S.I. 2016/1021), regs. 1, 3(4)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F13",
      "text": "Word in reg. 9(5A) omitted (7.12.2017) by virtue of The Childcare Payments (Eligibility) (Amendment) Regulations 2017 (S.I. 2017/1101), regs. 1, 3(f)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F14",
      "text": "Words in reg. 9(6) substituted (14.11.2016) by The Childcare Payments (Eligibility) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 2016 (S.I. 2016/1021), regs. 1, 3(5)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/448/regulation/9",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-28T23:45:28.152160+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}