Provider Portal and Funding Documents

Term Deadlines and Provider Funding Letter

Click here for the Spring Term Funding Letter

Deadlines for Spring Term 2021

DEADLINE FOR ENTERING ESTIMATE FOR 2, 3 & 4-YEAR OLDS	TUESDAY 5TH JANUARY 20201
CENSUS DATE	THURSDAY 21ST JANUARY 2021
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF ACTUAL CLAIM/HEADCOUNT DATA FOR 2, 3 AND 4-YEAR OLDS, INCLUDING PARENT’S EYPP DETAILS	FRIDAY 5TH FEBRUARY 2021
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF DAF (DISABILITY ACCESS FUND) APPLICATIONS	FRIDAY 5TH FEBRUARY 2021

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Provider Agreement and Provider Guide

Provider Agreement

To register and continue to receive early years funding, all funded providers must read, accept and return the 'Provider Agreement'.

• Provider Agreement

Please email earlyyearsfunding@york.gov.uk with your completed provider agreement. 

Provider Guide

This document is intended as a supporting guide to the Provider Agreement:

• Provider Guide

Making claims and using the Provider Portal

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. This payment is usually based on 85% of the estimate you provide and will be processed during the first week of term. Please note that this payment may take up to 10 working days to reach your bank account.
• A second payment, during the second half of term, once all claims have been received and finalised

What is the claims process?

• You will receive an email informing you of the relevant dates and deadlines for the forthcoming term. 
• You will enter an estimate figure for the total number of hours per week you will be claiming for onto the Online Provider Portal.
• Parent/Carer declaration forms are available to download below under the 'Parent/Carer Declaration Forms' section.
• Once estimates have been submitted, you will have until the deadline stated in the funding emails and letters to submit children's funding details and the actual amount of hours per week the child will be claiming onto the Online Provider Portal.
• There will be a short period after this date for you to check the data you have submitted is correct. 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.

Census dates are the third Thursday in January, the third Thursday in May and the first Thursday in October. 

For a guide on how to use the Provider Portal, please click here.

 

Parent/Carer Declaration Forms

Funding cannot be claimed until a Parent Declaration (PD) form has been completed and signed by either the parents or the child's legal guardian.

•  A PD Form must be completed at all providers if a child is accessing their Funded Entitlement (FE) place across more than one provider.
• The number of hours entered on the PD Form under “Number of FE Hours per week” must correspond to the number of hours entered into the portal and hence the number of hours to be funded by the local authority.
• The boxes indicating whether the child is attending for a full / half term and term time / stretched offer must be ticked appropriately.

The Provider must explain to the parent/carer the claiming procedure, what FE their child is entitled to and how they can access this. Please ensure both the Provider and the parent/carer read and understand the conditions included on the form before signing.

•  A copy must be kept by the Provider, along with the attendance register, for 4 terms and made available for audit if required. If requested, a completed copy should be given to the parent/carer.

The Parent Declaration form should be completed on a termly basis. There are two types of Provider Declaration forms: the Universal 15 hours form and the Extended 30 hours form. Please click on the links below to access the declaration forms.

• 15 Hours Funded Entitlement Declaration Form (Word Document)
• 30 Hours Funded Entitlement Declaration Form (Word Document)

Guidance and Frequently Asked Questions Documents

 This section contains links to guidance documents and FAQ documents:

• Provider Checklist for Providers Receiving the Early Education Funding
• Stretched Offer Guidance
• Provider Frequently Asked Questions Updated March 18
• Parent FAQs April 2018
• Department for Education FAQs
• General Information for Practitioners Factsheet
• Appeals Process for Providers and Parents
• Designated Nursery Numbers April 2018
• Nursery Admissions Policy
• CCTV Audit Procedure

Charging/Billing Information

 This section contains links to any guidance documents regarding charging and billing:

• Billing Information
• Charging for spare places in maintained nursery classes Guidance April 2018
• School Charging and remissions template

Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP)

EYPP can be claimed for 3 and 4 year olds and aims to support providers to bridge the gap between the most and least advantaged children and their readiness for school. All providers delivering funded early education and childcare places will be eligible to receive the EYPP.

There will be approximately £300 additional funding for each eligible child. In order to see whether a child has been allocated EYPP on the provider portal, a weighting will have been applied with a code of 002.

What is the eligibility criteria?

 The EYPP can be claimed by an Early Year’s provider if a 3 or 4 year old is accessing a funded early education and childcare place at their setting and the child’s parent /carer receives one of the following benefits:

• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• Universal Credit
• Support from NASS (National Asylum Support Service) under part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• The guarantee element of State Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit (provided the family is not also entitled to Working Tax Credit (WTC) and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190*)       (*Current figure at time of printing)
• Working Tax Credit run-on (paid for 4 weeks after a family stops qualifying for WTC)

Or the child falls into one of the following groups:

• Has been looked after by the local authority for at least one day
• Has been adopted from care
• Has left care through a special guardianship order
• Is subject to a child arrangement order (previously known as a residence order)

For further information, please visit our Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) page

Disability Access Funding (DAF)

The Disability Access Funding (DAF) is a small amount of additional funding available to support access for three and four year olds with disabilities in early years settings. A sum of £615 per year is to be used to improve access and inclusion. The funding could be used to purchase specialist equipment or training to support children in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA). You can request an application from earlyyearsfunding@york.gov.uk.

• Further guidance is available here: DAF Guidance 2019

Sufficiency Data

To support the LA in their statutory duty to ensure sufficient early years and childcare places, we ask all childcare providers to complete their sufficiency data on the Provider Portal on a termly basis. You will be able to indicate the number of places you offer across each of the proposed age ranges and also the number of vacanies you hold for each age range. The data you provide will only be used to inform the Local Authority and will not be made directly available to families but may be used to give an indication of the level of availability in the local area.  

For guidance on how to submit your sufficiency data please see the following document:

• Portal Sufficiency Guidance

Provider Information Sessions and Portal Training Sessions

Provider Information Sessions

The Early Years Funding Team hold regular Provider Information Sessions which aim to update providers on any important new information or to consolidate knowledge of any matters relating to early years funding. An email will be sent out by earlyyearsfunding@york.gov.uk notifying you of any provider information sessions available.

To find the powerpoint slides from the last Provider Information Session, please see below:

• Summer term 2019 Provider Information Session Slides

Portal Training Sessions

The team also hold Portal Training Sessions which are held on an evening at West Offices which allows providers to have training on how to use the online provider portal, how to make a claim and gives a general overview of what early years funding we offer. To register your interest in any future Portal Training Sessions, please email earlyyearsfunding@york.gov.uk and we will add your name and contact details onto our waiting list.

Register to deliver funded places

In order to register to deliver funded places for 2, 3 and 4 year olds, please visit the following page for further details and guidance.

• Register to deliver funded places

Early Years Funding Team

The team can give advice and support on any query that you have relating to the early years entitlements. This could be:

• Information regarding the payment of the funding to the settings e.g. the amount of funding made, timescale for submitting your online claim, 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 submitting the online claim data and census information
• For notification of a change of funding contact details
• If a child starts or leaves a setting after submission of claim/census information

The team can be contacted on 01904 553880 or by email at earlyyearsfunding@york.gov.uk