Free Early Education Funding for 3 and 4 year olds

A guide for Practitioners

Download the Fair Processing Notice

The Policy and Planning team can give advice and support on any query that you have relating to the Free Early Years places for three and four year olds.

This could be:

• Information regarding the payment of the funding to the settings e.g. the amount of funding made, timescales for completing the forms, when payments should have been received etc
• Offering the enhanced entitlement flexibly 
• If you think you have received the incorrect amount of funding
• For advice on filling out and completing the claim/census form and to find out more about the different formats in which this information can be entered.
• For notification of a change to bank details and contact details to which the claim/census forms are sent,
• If a child starts or leaves a setting after submission of claim/census form.

The Policy and Planning team can be contacted on (01904) 554208 or 554442.

Additional Resources

A new form has now been devised to claim for ‘Hard to Reach 2 year old’ children taking up Free Early Years places. The form is designed in the same way as the Children with Special Educational Needs form in order to help you claim additional sessions for ‘hard to reach’ children who attend your setting.

What is the claims process? (for all providers except childminders)

Free Early Years Funding is made in two payments for each term:

• An initial payment made at the beginning of the term based on estimated take-up
• A second payment, during the second half of term, once all claims have been received and finalised

The initial payment:

• The initial payment is usually based on 85% of the funding that you received in the same term the previous year.
• You will receive a letter informing you of the initial payment you can expect to receive and your declaration forms approximately 4 weeks prior to the end of the previous term.
• If you think that the funding you expect to receive for the next term is going to be significantly different to this proposed first payment, you can contact the Policy and Planning Team up to the first day of the term to inform them of numbers you are expecting that term and your payment will be amended to reflect this.
• The Policy and Planning team will process the initial payment on the 2nd day of each term.
• This payment will then take up to 10 working days to reach your bank account.

Census dates are the third Thursday in January, the third Thursday in May and the 1st Thursday in October. Claim forms are to be submitted shortly after the census date. There will be a short period after this date for telephone adjustments to be made. The onus is on you, the provider, to ensure that you apply for the funding for a child either on full term or half term basis. It is important you make parents aware of these cut off dates and conditions of moving their children from setting to setting.

The final payment:

• will be made during the second half of the term, once all overclaims are resolved and claims finalised.

The Claims process for childminders

Childminders will receive the full payment (i.e. 100%) on receipt of their claim.