How can a family claim an entitlement?

Once you have confirmed the childcare arrangement (contract) with the family, a parent / carer claim form must be completed.  The claim form is split into 3 parts. All sections of Part 2 and 3 should be completed.

Part 1: This must be issued to all families new to claiming early education. We recommend that the weblink or QR code is shared, which means families will have access to the following information –

• Information to complete Part 2 and 3 of the claim form
  
• Parent / carer booklet
  
• Tax-free childcare QR code
  
• Universal credit for childcare QR code
  

Part 2: This must be issued to families claiming an entitlement for the first time. It is only necessary for this part to be completed again if the family’s information changes (e.g. address).

Part 3a, b or c: This must be issued to families claiming an entitlement for the first time to calculate the hours for the cycle of eligibility.

IMPORTANT: Families must meet certain criteria to claim. (The information collected on Part 2 and 3 will used to determine the funding claim)

PLEASE REMEMBER: Funding claims MUST not be added to the portal until a signed claim form has been returned to you.  The signed form provides consent for you to check and claim the funding. (These forms must be retained for 6 years plus current year)

How can I claim funding on behalf of a family?

Once a funding agreement is in place, access to the portal will be made available to submit funding claims.

What are funding estimates?

Providers are invited to submit estimates termly to enable initial funding payments.  Your estimate is based on what families have agreed to at the time and will be the expected total hours you intend to claim for the next claim period for each funding entitlement.  A % of the hours will be paid each month until payments switch to actuals.

IMPORTANT: Check the deadline dates. (Submissions can be amended whilst the edit status is “Open”)

What are funding actuals?

Once the claim period has commenced, providers must transfer the information collected on the claim form to the portal as a child record.

IMPORTANT: Check the deadline dates. (Submissions can be amended whilst the edit status is “Open”)

How will I know the maximum number of funded hours for the claim period?

This will depend on the child's cycle of eligibility and how you plan to offer the funding (term time or stretched).

The cycle of eligibility (1st, 2nd or 3rd claim) is determined by a child’s date of birth NOT the number of claims submitted. Children eligible for under 2-year-old funding may also receive a 4th claim before transitioning to 2-year-old funding. Please refer to the Cycle of Eligibility Chart.

To support you to calculate these hours, calculators are provided.  If you need help, please ask!

What is a Term Time offer?

Funding is available over 38 weeks.  These weeks will commence at the start of cycle of eligibility and are split over 3 claim periods.

Each claim period we will recommend the maximum number of hours available; however, the actual total must be based on the child's actual pattern of attendance (number of weekdays and hours per daily session(s)).  Where a family choose to take less hours or the pattern of attendance is less than the recommendation, it is possible within the same cycle of eligibility to claim the unused hours later provided the national criteria is met.

Example: Monday and Tuesday Attendance, 5 funded hours per day

What is a Stretched Offer? 

Funding is available over more than 38 weeks and are usually the number of weeks the settings is open split over 3 claim periods.

The maximum number of hours is calculated by -

• Divide 1140 or 570 by the total number of weeks funding is offered in a year [A]
  
• Multiply [A] with the number of weeks funding is offered this claim period

Example: Open 45 weeks

When will I be paid for funding?

Unless agreed otherwise, funding payments are processed monthly and initially based on your estimate(s).  Once the estimate deadline has passed, payments will switch to your actuals which have been downloaded by the team. All payments will be processed so that a provider should receive it no later than 7th of each month or next working day.

More details can found here including remittance information and the form to update your payment details.

Top Tip!  Submit your actuals asap to avoid payment delays

Please note: Early education funding -

• will not be paid where a parent/carer claim form has been completed but actual attendance did not commence in the claim period
• will not be paid where a provider has implemented a staggered intake at the beginning of the claim period. This means families can seek alternative arrangements during this short period of non-attendance
• will not be paid where current government guidance is not followed. This includes any periods that a family has been asked by the setting for their child(ren) not to attend, because the decision to limit or temporarily cease the child attendance means that the entitlement will not be provided
• will be paid for any short-term absences for children who do not attend (Children can be absent for up to 4 weeks (consecutive days) before it is necessary to seek approval from the local authority to claim funding for an extended period of absence)
• will be paid in accordance with guidelines issued by the Local Authority / Central Government where a provider is required to close completely or partially short term or advised to close or left with no option but to close due to public health or health and safety reasons (Families must be informed that the entitlement will be claimed, and therefore these hours will not be available later)
• will be paid within the national criteria for actual attendance (claims should be adjusted as families decide to cease or commence the entitlement so it “follows the child”)

Can I charge families for their funded hours?

There are specific rules about how and when families can be charged when accessing a funded place.  Please refer to the Terms and Conditions of the funding agreement.

Chargeable extras are allowable, but these charges cannot be mandatory:

• Non-food consumables - to be used by the child, such as nappies or sun cream
  
• Food consumables - meals and snacks consumed by the child
  
• Optional services and activities - activities such as events, celebrations, specialist tuition (for example music classes or foreign languages) or other activities that are not directly related or necessary for the effective delivery of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework
  

It is important that your charges are described with your charging policy, the policy has been checked for compliance, and your funding agreement is reflective of your charges.

Can I receive funding for a back dated claim?

To maintain transparency and fairness to all providers, requests to back date early years funding to a previous claim period will be declined unless there is an exceptional circumstance.

How do I claim Disability Access Fund (DAF)?

More information can be found here.

How do I claim Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP)?

More information can be found here.

How do I claim SEN Funding?

More information can be found here.