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Information for early years childcare providers

Business support advice, funding information, useful forms, important dates and provider updates for early years childcare providers in North Lincolnshire.

Business support and advice for early years providers

The following guidance may help new and existing early years providers develop a sustainable business:

  • Business Smart is a free online resource from the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years (PACEY) to support the sustainability of new and established childminders. For top tips, case studies, downloadable tools and other essential ideas visit the PACEY website.
  • The Department for Education (DfE) provides a wealth of business guidance from successful early years providers.
  • The National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) has developed free resources to promote excellence in early education and childcare.

Education funding support for early years providers

The following information includes forms and information to support you with the administration and claiming of early education funding:

The Government extended the early education entitlement to 30 hours a week nationally (1140 hours per year) for working parents of three and four-year-olds. The extra funding is to:

  • support working parents to manage the cost of childcare
  • support parents into work
  • enable parents to increase their working hours

Further information is available on our 30 hours funded childcare page.

Every effort will be made to conform to these deadlines. In the case that these deadlines cannot be met you will be informed as soon as possible. Failure of providers to meet deadlines will result in a delayed payment.

The Disability Access Fund (DAF) is for early years places for three and four year old children in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA).

The Early Years Funding Handbook – PVIs [PDF, 1MB] is a guide to help you claim funding for eligible two, three and four year old children each term.

Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) is additional funding for eligible three and four year olds attending their free early education.

The money is paid to the childcare provider to help them meet the needs of children, and to maximise their learning in readiness to go to school. The provider can receive up to approximately £376.20 of additional funding for each child.

We have tried to answer your questions below, but if you have another question or want to find out more about the Early Years Pupil Premium please contact the Early Education Funding team.

Which children are eligible?

Children registered for three or four year old early education funding, and whose families are in receipt of one or more of the following benefits:

  • Universal Credit and a household income less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits)
  • Income support
  • Income-based Job Seekers Allowance
  • Income-related Employment Support Allowance
  • Support from NASS (National Asylum Support Service) under part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999)
  • The guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
  • Child Tax Credit (with no Working Tax Credit) and an annual income of no more than £16,190
  • Working Tax Credit four-weeks run-on

A child will also be eligible if he or she has left care through adoption, special guardianship or child arrangements order, or if they are looked after by a local authority.

Which childcare providers are eligible to receive the Early Years Pupil Premium?

Any Ofsted registered childcare provider can receive the EYPP. In North Lincolnshire this includes childminders, school and academy nurseries, pre-schools and day nurseries, and before and after school clubs.

How do I receive the Early Years Pupil Premium?

Families of eligible children must complete a Parent Agreement Form. The form requests the parent or guardian name, date of birth and National Insurance Number or National Asylum Support Service Number.

This information is submitted to the council and a check is undertaken using the Eligibility Checking Service (ECS). This provides access to HM Revenue and Customs and the Department for Work and Pensions databases of all families in receipt of relevant benefits.

If the child is eligible, additional funding will automatically be added to your funding payment. The funding will be paid in each payment of early education funding that you receive.

How will I know which children are in receipt of Early Years Pupil Premium?

Once a child is eligible for EYPP they will remain eligible until they start reception. Each term you will receive a list of newly eligible children to enable you to plan strategies to maximise eligible children’s potential.

Is the funding the same for looked after children and children that have left care?

The amount of funding is the same. However, the funding should be used to support the child’s Personal Education Plan (PEP), where applicable.

Parents can indicate on their Parent Agreement Form that their child is in care or has left care. This will be checked with council records.

Where a child is found, EYPP will be paid to the childcare provider.

Where a child is not found, additional supporting evidence will be requested, for example a copy of court orders.

North Lincolnshire Council will pay the EYPP for all looked after children regardless of which local authority’s care they are under.

What happens if a family’s financial circumstances change?

Once a check has been undertaken and a child is eligible for EYPP, they will remain eligible until they start school reception class.

If a family is not eligible when they apply, their details will be regularly checked as long as consent remains.

If family circumstances change, and they are then found to be eligible by the ECS checker, the funding will be applied.

If you are aware of a family change in circumstances, we advise the key worker to encourage the family to complete a new Parent Agreement Form. We can then check for eligibility for Early Years Pupil Premium.

Parents should complete the child’s name, parent or guardian name, date of birth and National Insurance Number or National Asylum Support Service number. Once these details have been checked, we will advise you whether the child is eligible.

How much is the funding?

The funding amounts to 66 pence per hour. It is directly linked to the number of free hours a child is accessing of their free early learning and care. If a child is attending for 10 hours a week a childcare provider will be paid £6.60 per week.

A child attends two childcare providers – who will receive the EYPP funding?

The EYPP funding is directly linked to a child’s universal 15 hours of free early learning and care.

If a child attends two childcare providers, each will receive a proportion of the funding based on the number of funded early learning and care hours the child attends at each.

If a child is eligible for the extended entitlement, the universal hours will be split across the two providers so that they both receive a proportion of EYPP.

Who will inform the parents?

It is the childcare provider’s responsibility to inform parents of their child’s eligibility for the EYPP. Where information is provided by parents and the ECS checker finds an error, providers will be asked to liaise with parents to check National Insurance Numbers or dates of birth as appropriate.

Are parents involved in how the money is being spent?

A child’s key person will regularly discuss a child’s time at the childcare provider with the child’s parents or carers. The additional funding will be used to support the child’s learning and development. However, as a provider you may combine the EYPP funding for several children or work with other childcare providers to fund specific training or activities.

Who monitors how the childcare provider spends the money?

When you are inspected by Ofsted, you will be asked to demonstrate how you have used the additional funding to show the difference it has made to children in your care. The funding may be used to support children with:

  • personal, social and emotional development
  • communication and language
  • physical development
  • literacy

This may be new equipment, training for staff members or other initiatives which support the children’s learning. Each childcare provider will use different approaches depending on the needs of the children in their care.

It will be important that you can justify the choices you have made. The focus needs to be on ‘narrowing the gap’ for this cohort of children to make significant progress if there is an identified risk of delay or delay in their development. You will already have strategies in place for supporting these children and their families. This funding will enable you to refine and focus what you already do, as well as introduce further strategies.

Examples and guidance on how to spend EYPP

You can contact the Early Years team for support on developing and recording the impact of strategies on children’s learning.

All childcare places are paid for using the Early Years National Funding Formula. The council, in partnership with the Schools Forum, determine the hourly rates payable annually based on the Dedicated School Grant payment.

For the financial year 2023/2024 funding rates payable are as follows:

  • Two year old base rate: £7.28 per hour per child
  • Three and four year old base rate: £4.91 per hour per child

All providers are paid the same hourly rates for children in their care. In some instances, children are paid Early Years Pupil Premium and a deprivation supplement, as well as Disability Access Funding. A limited number of rural providers are eligible for a Sufficiency Lump sum.

All providers receive an annual indicative budget and confirmation of funding payable for their provision.

For more information about rates payable please contact the Childcare Sufficiency team.

If you require copies of the guidance notes and declaration in another language or format, please contact the Childcare Sufficiency Team.

Early years childcare providers have access to the North Lincolnshire Provider Portal.

The Portal Handbook [PDF, 3MB] is a useful guide about how to navigate the portal.

If you are an early years childcare provider in North Lincolnshire and you do not yet have a login for the portal, please contact the Early Years team.

Contact

Childcare Sufficiency Team

01724 297000