Pre-school credit scheme

The Pre-School Credit is a universal credit paid by the Department of Education, Sport and Culture (DESC, the Department) to Government registered child day care centres or registered childminders to support the Early Education of all eligible children.

In order to be eligible for a pre-school credit, a child must be resident in the Isle of Man and have their fourth birthday in the school year to which the credit applies.

Applications are now open for the school year commencing in September 2023, for children whose date of birth falls between 1 September 2019 and 31 August 2020.

There is a universal credit of £4,166 per eligible child, which can be used towards the cost of a pre-school place with a pre-school provider or childminder registered with the Department of Health and Social Care.

In the first instance, you should secure a place for your child with a registered child day care centre or registered childminder.

When you have confirmation of a place, please complete the online application form.

You will be sent a letter to confirm the intention of DESC to pay the pre-school credit to the relevant child day care centre or registered childminder.

If you have not already done so, you should secure a place for your child with a provider of child day care services registered with the Department of Health and Social Care.

Complete and sign the tear off slip from your award letter and hand this in to your chosen pre-school provider/childminder. Agree with the pre-school provider/childminder how much credit you wish them to offset against your invoices, subject to the restrictions below. Your provider will reclaim the credit applied from the Department of Education, Sport and Culture.

The Pre-School credit is a universal credit paid by DESC to registered pre-school settings for the purpose of supporting early education.

In the event that the registered pre-school setting is unable to provide the pre-school place to the eligible child on a particular day or days due to circumstances beyond their control (for example, due to an outbreak of infectious, communicable illness), the pre-school credit will still be payable to the child day care provider and is therefore not redeemable for additional sessions on another date. In the event of extenuating circumstances, an appeals process is available.

A universal credit of £4,166 is available for each eligible child for the academic year 2022 -2023. The pre-school credit award is allocated on a monthly basis and can be claimed a month in advance. The monthly amounts are outlined below: 

The pre-school credit award is allocated on a monthly basis and can be claimed a month in advance, the amount of award available for a child who attends pre-school all year round will be £347 per month. The amount of award available for a child who attends term-time will be up to £415 per month with the exception of December, April and July when up to £282 can be claimed and there is no credit remaining for August.

Please note that the credit may only be used within the school year and any balance remaining at the end of August will be lost.

Your provider is responsible for keeping a record of the amount of credit that has been applied to your bills and should be able to tell you how much is left at any time.

You can also check how much has been claimed by the provider against your credit by contacting the Department of Education, Sport and Culture on +44 1624 687146 or by email at Pre-SchoolCredit.DESC@gov.im

The credit can be used for Pre-School childcare provided by a registered childminder.

There is no requirement for you to do so. This depends on the arrangements you agree with your provider.

You can apply for the credit award at any time during the school year and, providing you have been resident for the full year, you will be entitled to the full year's credit. Please note, however, that the credit must be used within the school year and any balance remaining at the end of August will be lost.

If you take up residence after the start of the school year in which your child is eligible for a pre-school credit, the amount of credit to be awarded will be calculated on a pro rata basis from the date of residence. The calculation is based on one twelfth of the pre-school credit per month.

For example, if you arrive in December 2023, you will be entitled to 9 months credit for the 2023-24 academic year.

If you are leaving the Island, you should notify the Department of Education, Sport and Culture of your departure date. Entitlement to the pre-school credit would be on a pro rata basis up to the date of departure at the rate applicable.

A list of pre-school providers who are registered with DHSC can be found by visitng the links below:

Child day care centres

Registered Childminders

If a provider is not listed, you can make enquiries to the Department of Health and Social Care by email to R.Iadults.DHSC@gov.im or by telephone on +44 1624 642422.

Note that these contact details relate only to queries concerning the registration of child day care providers. All other enquiries should be directed to the Department of Education, Sport and Culture.

This varies depending on the provider, the length of sessions and the number of sessions you commit to, so should be checked with the provider.

Contact the Department of Education, Sport and Culture to notify them that you are changing your pre-school provider/childminder.  The Department will contact your current provider to ensure they have submitted their final claim, you will receive a revised credit award letter, including a tear-off slip showing the amount of credit previously claimed and the balance remaining. Complete and hand in the tear-off slip to your new provider.

The Department of Education, Sport and Culture has no powers to arbitrate in a dispute between you and your provider. The Department can, however, provide information as to how much credit has been claimed against an award, or the balance remaining, and may be able to place a 'stop' against the award to prevent further credit being deducted.

Acceptance of a child into a pre-school has no influence on where the child can be subsequently enrolled for primary education. Details of the catchment areas that exist for primary schools may be obtained from the Department of Education, Sport and Culture by telephoning +44 1624 685820.

In the event of such closure, the Department will review the terms and conditions of the award and funding may be withdrawn for the duration of this closure period.

In the case of estranged parents applying for a pre-school credit for different providers for the eligible child, the sum payable to each may be split in proportion to the time spent by the eligible child with each parent during a normal week. Please contact the Department on +44 1624 687146 or by e-mail at Pre-SchoolCredit.DESC@gov.im 

If an application for an award of a pre-school credit has been rejected or has determined to award a lesser credit than you have applied for under this Scheme, you may ask for a review of this decision. Your request for a review must be made in writing within one month of the date you were notified of the decision. The Department will appoint an officer of the Department to reconsider the application. The officer that reviews the decision will be different to the one that made the original decision. You will be notified of the outcome of the reconsideration.

Where the Department has rejected an application for a pre-school credit or has determined to award a lesser credit than was applied for under this Scheme, a parent / carer can request that the Department reviews its decision.

A request for a review must be made in writing within one month of the date of notification of the decision to: DESC.EarlyYears@sch.im

The Department of Education, Sport and Culture, must appoint an officer of the Department (other than the officer involved in the original decision) to reconsider the application and must notify the applicant of the outcome.

For matters relating to the Pre-School Credit Award system, please contact the Department of Education, Sport and Culture by telephone at +44 1624 687146 or by email at Pre-SchoolCredit.DESC@gov.im