Printable guide · England · 2026

Five deadlines that could cost your family money

Every year, families in England miss out on money they may have been entitled to, simply because they did not know a deadline was approaching. This free calendar sets out the dates that are left before the end of 2026, what each one is worth, and the action to take.

Read what we do Go straight to the calendar

13 pages · A4English and PortugueseNo payment details

Who we are

A practice for women who want the situation in order, and then to go further.

Eagle Wings Consulting® is a mentoring practice for women building a life in England. We work with women who feel stuck, overstretched or unsure what to do next — and help them get the situation in order, then build something steadier, with more income and more independence. What holds a woman back is rarely effort or ability. It is more often not knowing how the system works, not knowing what she is entitled to, or simply not knowing where to start.

You do not need to be claiming anything for this to be for you. Many of the women we work with receive no support at all. The questions are the same either way: what to do next, and in what order.

Stability

We start with whatever is causing the pressure — housing, bills, childcare, schooling, benefits and entitlements — and steady the ground you are standing on.

Direction

We put things in order of priority and set out a plan. Not a pile of information: a direction, and someone alongside you while you act on it.

Growth

With the ground steady, we look at what comes next — study, qualifications, career, income, independence.

Other mentoring starts with the dream.

We start with what is actually in front of you. Encouragement is of little use while a childcare code is unresolved, a letter is unanswered and the month is already short. Steady that first, and the rest becomes possible.

One situation, not eight separate services.

A money problem is often a childcare problem. A childcare problem is often a work problem. A work problem often begins with a qualification. We look at the whole of it at once, because that is how it works in a household.

Where we can help

Direction, confidence and making decisions
Work, career and progression
Money, budgeting and earning more
Courses, university and Student Finance
Childcare, family life and your children's schooling
Housing, the council and getting paperwork in order
Benefits, entitlements and how the English system works
Universal Credit, PIP, DLA and other support

Put together by a practice that works inside the English system every day — the same knowledge we bring to a first conversation, set out as dates you can act on.

13: Printed pages
5: Dated deadlines
£10,906: Upper limit at stake

The deadlines

Five dates, and what each one is worth.

Every figure below is published on GOV.UK and carries its source. Mark the ones that apply to you as you read — the total is at the foot, and the calendar covers every one of them in full.

31 August 2026 Action required

Child Benefit for a child aged 16 to 19

If your child is between 16 and 19 and will be staying in approved education or training, you need to tell HMRC. If you do not confirm this by 31 August, your Child Benefit payments may stop.

What to do Confirm the course or training your child will be taking from September, update it in the HMRC app or on GOV.UK, and keep the confirmation. It takes only a few minutes to complete.

Official source gov.uk/government/news/extend-child-benefit-for-your-teen-before-31-august

What is at stake

£1,406.60 a year

£27.05 a week · eldest or only child

£930.80 a year

£17.90 a week · each additional child

31 August 2026 Action required

Your funded childcare code

Working parents of children from 9 months to school age need to apply for a code, or reconfirm the one they already hold, before 31 August. Without a valid code that your childcare provider has accepted, the funded hours may not begin in September.

What to do Sign in to your childcare account on GOV.UK, apply for or reconfirm your code, give it to your childcare provider, and check with them that it has been accepted. Holding the code is not enough on its own.

Official source gov.uk/free-childcare-if-working/when-to-apply

What is at stake

up to £7,500 a year

per child · up to 30 hours a week for 38 weeks

The saving varies with your area and the hours you actually use.

31 October 2026 Time to prepare

Applying for secondary school

This is the deadline for children starting secondary school in September 2027. Applications sent after the deadline are still accepted, but they are considered only once the on-time applications have been dealt with.

What to do Check your council's process, because the forms and the rules vary. Choose several schools in order of preference rather than one, and gather your proof of address early.

Official source gov.uk/schools-admissions/how-to-apply

What is at stake

A place

at one of the schools you chose. A late application may be considered only after every on-time one, however close to the school you live.

31 December 2026 Time to prepare

Childcare code for the January term

If your child becomes eligible for funded childcare between September and December, you need to apply for the code by 31 December in order to use the hours from January 2027. It follows the same rule as the August deadline: the code has to exist and be accepted before the term begins, not during it.

What to do Apply as soon as your child becomes eligible, and give the code to your childcare provider before the term starts. Working two weeks ahead of the deadline gives you time to sort out anything that does not go through first time.

Official source gov.uk/free-childcare-if-working/when-to-apply

What is at stake

The same hours

worth up to £7,500 a year per child, for the term beginning in January 2027.

Every
3 months Your own date Not published anywhere

Reconfirming your eligibility

Anyone receiving Free Childcare for Working Parents or Tax-Free Childcare has to sign in every three months and reconfirm that they are still eligible. The date is personal to you and appears in your childcare account. It is on no public calendar, which is why it is the deadline most often missed.

What to do Find your reconfirmation date in your childcare account, write it down, and set a reminder two weeks before it. That gives you enough time to check what is required and take action.

Official source gov.uk/tax-free-childcare

What is at stake

up to £500 a quarter

per child, in Tax-Free Childcare. The government adds £2 for every £8 you pay in, up to £1,000 a quarter for a disabled child.

Mark the deadlines above that apply to you. The calendar covers every one of them.

£0 Nothing marked yet

What is inside

Thirteen pages. Every deadline in full.

The amounts, the action, the official source and a page to fill in by hand. It is set for ordinary A4 paper and an ordinary home printer, because a calendar on the wall is read and a calendar in a folder is not.

02How to use this calendar
03Child Benefit for a child aged 16 to 19
04Funded childcare
05The timeline to the end of the year
06October and December
07The deadlines that run all year
08What is actually at stake
09My dates — a page to fill in and put up
10What else needs your attention?
11About Eagle Wings
12Your next step

**Page 09**My dates — to fill in and put up

Why print it

A page on the wall beats a file you never open.

A deadline you can see is a deadline you act on. Page 9 is left blank on purpose: you write in your own reconfirmation date, tick only what applies to you, and put it somewhere you pass every day. Print it once and it works for the rest of the year.

After the deadlines

Is this genuinely the only thing that needs sorting out?

These deadlines deal with what is immediate. They are rarely the whole picture. Read the following slowly. They are not rhetorical — they are the questions we start with.

Is there something else that has been sitting there for months because you do not know where to start?
Did you know that a change at work, in your income, your childcare, your studies or your housing can affect everything else at the same time?
Are you dealing with this week, or do you have a plan for the next six months?
Are you certain you are receiving everything you may be entitled to?
Once this is out of the way, do you know what your next step is?
Do you only need help with this one issue, or would you benefit from looking at the bigger picture?

If you answered "I am not sure" more than once, you may simply have too many things to deal with at the same time. You do not have to work through them alone.

Get it now

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Print it, and keep page 9 somewhere you will see it regularly. If it is filed away, it is easily forgotten.