Early Years Funding Policy

What is Early Years Funding?

Early Years Funding is a national scheme, administered by local authorities, which offers funded childcare hours with an Ofsted registered provider. A variety of funded hours are available depending on the child’s age and the family’s situation. Childcare providers can choose how to offer the Early Years Funding as long as the following parameters are met: –

• Funded childcare cannot be longer than 10 hours in a single day;
• Funded childcare must be accessed between 6am and 8pm

Information on all the Early Years Funding eligibility criteria can be found here: https://www.beststartinlife.gov.uk/

 

How Rainbow Day Nursery School offers Early Years Funding

At Rainbow Day Nursery School, families are able to maximise their funded childcare by using up to 10 hours of funding a day before purchasing additional hours and without any artificial break in the day. We are open from 8am-6pm, so 10 hours is equivalent to one full day.

As an all-year-round childcare provider we stretch the early years Funding across 51 weeks instead of limiting it to 38 weeks of term time.

Rainbow Day Nursery School requires a holding deposit equivalent to a month’s fees before starting. We are closed for one week of the year between Christmas and New Year, so no funding is used during this time. Our fees with and without funding are split into equal monthly payments.

 

How Stretched Funding Works

Stretching the funding, as stated above, means that the funded hours provided are stretched from 38 weeks to 51 weeks to ensure the funding covers the whole year.

15 hours of funded childcare over 38 weeks (term time) equates to 570 funded childcare hours a year. Under our stretched offer this equates to 11 hours of funded childcare a week over 51 weeks of the year.

30 hours of funded childcare over 38 weeks (term time) equates to 1,140 funded childcare hours a year. Under our stretched offer this equates to 22 hours of funded childcare a week over 51 weeks of the year.

Funding is only available in 10-hour blocks and begins when the nursery opens and ends when the nursery closes.

• Where a parent is eligible for 11 funded hours a week and books 2 full days or more a week at nursery the remaining hour per week will be allocated to the second day.
• Where a parent is eligible for 22 funded hours a week and books 3 full days or more a week at nursery the 22 funded hours will be spread across that week.

 

• Please note that an All-Year-Round stretch may mean a small loss of funded hours over the course of a year (for example 11 hours per week over 51 weeks = 561 hours).

 

Essentials and Extras

Early Years Funding is intended to cover the delivery of childcare only. It does not cover the cost of meals and snacks, non-food consumables, or additional hours.

To cover costs not included in the Early Years Funding we request parents pay a non-mandatory Essentials and Extras fee. However, at Rainbow Day Nursery School, we ensure that all children have access to non-food consumables as we believe this is an essential part of the learning process, therefore we do not include these in our essentials and extras fee. This cost is just used for food.

Any additional fees for days not using funded hours have essentials and extras included.

Rainbow Day Nursery School offers healthy, balanced and nutritious home cooked meals each day for all children. We provide AM and PM snacks, a full home cooked lunch from fresh produce, a pudding and A balanced and nutritious High Tea. Water and Milk are also provided throughout the day. We have worked hard on our menus to provide a well-balanced diet and know how important this is for children. These costs are listed below:-

Under 2’s – £5.05 per day

2-3 Years – £5.55 per day

3+ Years – £6.05 per day

Your child will move into the following age bracket for essential extras costs, the term following their birthday.

Parents can choose not to pay the Essentials and Extras and or additional hours in accordance with the Funding Terms and Conditions. If this is the case, food will not be provided, and parents would have to provide their children’s food.

Rainbow Day Nursery School strongly advises against children bringing their own food (such as packed lunches) into the nursery to avoid allergen risks. If parents chose to do this, please refer to our ‘Packed Lunch Policy’.

 

Types of Early Years Funding

Supported Two-year-old funding

A child will be entitled to 570 funded hours a year from the term after both the child has attained the age of two and the child or parent meets the eligibility criteria.

Where a child is in receipt of Supported Two-year-old funding they will continue to receive their funded place until the point when the child becomes eligible for the Universal Funding, even if the child or parent ceases to meet the eligibility criteria during this time.

 

Universal Three- and- Four-year-old Funding

All three- and four-year-olds are entitled to 570 funded childcare hours a year. Regulation requires us to validate a child’s age. Parents will need to provide evidence of a child’s birth date (normally a passport or birth certificate) and copies may be taken and retained as evidence of compliance.

If your child was born on or between the:

• 1st April and the 31st August he/she will become eligible from 1st September following his/her third birthday
• 1st September and 31st December, he/she will become eligible from 1st January following his/her third birthday
• 1st January and 31st March, he/she will become eligible from 1st April following his/her third birthday

 

Working Families Funding

Working Families Funding is for qualifying working parents with a child aged 9 months or older, 2, 3 or 4 years old. A child will be entitled to 570 funded hours a year from the term after they have attained the relevant age and the eligibility criteria, set by the government, has been met.

Parents must apply for a positive determination of eligibility from HMRC via Childcare Service Account i.e. a valid eligibility code. This eligibility code must be provided to us before the Early Years Funding can be claimed. The parent is responsible for re-validating the eligibility code every three months when reminded by HMRC. Failure to do so may result in the Working Families Funding being withdrawn and you will be charged full fees. Rainbow Day Nursery School takes no responsibility for parents failing to renew their funding codes.

You can apply for 30 hours funded childcare 16 weeks before your child’s third birthday, but no more than 3 months before you’re eligible to claim.

 

Parent Declaration Form

Regulation requires childcare providers to enter into a separate funding agreement with parents, called the Parent Declaration Form. On this form, parents are required to provide their funding code, where applicable.

Local authorities require parents to enter into a Parent Declaration Form covering the Early Years Funding. Information on these forms must be accurate and funding codes must be obtained the term before the required start date of the use of the funding, to be valid.

 

Required documentation

Regulation requires childcare providers to obtain documentation to evidence eligibility for the Early Years Funding as per below:

Supported Two-year old Funded Childcare: Child’s birth certificate or passport, confirmation of eligibility (e.g. local authority confirmation letter/email or code);

Universal Funded Childcare: Child’s birth certificate or passport;

Working Families Funding: Child’s birth certificate or passport, Parent’s full name, date of birth, eligibility Code issued by HMRC, and national insurance number.

 

Child Absences

In BCP (Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole), parents claiming Early Education Funding for childcare are responsible for notifying Rainbow Day Nursery School of any absences and the reason for the absence, which will be recorded. Rainbow can claim funding for up to three weeks of absence per funding cycle, but hold the right to charge for additional absences. If a child is absent without a reasonable explanation for 20 consecutive school days, Rainbow Day Nursery School will report it as a potential Children Missing Education (CME) case to BCP Council.

 

Absence Reporting and Funding

Parent’s Responsibility:

Parents must inform their childcare provider about any absences and the reason for them.

Provider’s Role:

Rainbow Day Nursery School will record the reason for absence (As per our Attendance & Absence Policy) and can claim funding for up to three weeks of absence per funding cycle.

Full Usage of Funded Hours:

Parents are encouraged to us their full entitlement of funded hours per week where possible.

Funding Withdrawal:

Regular non-attendance may lead to funding being withdrawn.

Additional Charges:

Rainbow Day Nursery School reserves the right to charge parents for absences exceeding the funded allowance, or for additional services i.e. Meals and snacks.

Local Authority Role:

Each childcare provider enters into an agreement with the local authority to provide the Early Years Funding. The local authority pays the childcare provider directly for the Funded Childcare it provides to the eligible children. The parents of the eligible children do not have access to, or the right to access, the Early Years Funding paid by the local authority.

 

 

Holiday Entitlement:

In line with the Local Authority Provider agreement for funding, 3 weeks of holiday in a child’s yearly entitlement for children claiming the stretched offer is allowed. Holidays and absences are still charged at the usual funded rate.

In this respect, the LA consider full weeks absence, not an accumulation of several part weeks or single days absence. Parents/carers will be charged at full fee for any additional weeks taken in order to secure the childcare place.  For example, a 4^th full week or more, during the year.

 

Other Types of Funding

Special Educational Needs and/or Disability (SEND) Funding

Every local authority has a SEND inclusion fund to support providers in meeting the needs of individual child with SEND. SEND Funding is paid directly to the provider by the local authority. When deciding on the value of SEND Funding, the local authority must consider the number of children with SEND in the local area, their level of need, and the overall capacity of the local childcare market to support these children.

Rainbow Day Nursery School will use SEND Funding to support the child with any learning and developmental delay or special educational needs or disability by accessing specialist resource and equipment.

 

Disability Access Funding (DAF)

DAF is available to children in receipt of Disability Living Allowance and Early Years Funding. Local authorities are responsible for checking that the DAF eligibility criteria are met. It is a one-off annual payment directly to the provider. If the child changes provider during the year, the DAF will remain with the original provider. If a child attends more than one provider, then the parent must allocate the DAF to one provider. This funding cannot be shared across providers.

Rainbow Day Nursery School will use any DAF to support making reasonable adjustments/adaptations to enable the child to have equal access to the provision in the same way as any other child or for resources that will be beneficial to the child.

Rainbow Day Nursery School will liaise with the child’s parents and engage with any relevant professionals to ensure that DAF is spent appropriately.

Where we have more than one child accessing DAF we may use the money for all children to support an adjustment or purchase resource that will benefit more than one child.

Any resources purchased as part of DAF remain the property of Rainbow Day Nursery School and can be used to support future children to access the provision. If a child moves provision, it is at Rainbow Day Nursery Schools discretion whether to transfer any resource purchased using DAF to the new provider.

 

Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP)

EYPP is additional funding that Rainbow Day Nursery School can claim to help improve outcomes of eligible children. The local authority pays the EYPP directly to the provider.

EYPP is available to support children whose parents meet the eligibility criteria and are in receipt of Early Years Funding. Local authorities are responsible for checking that the EYPP eligibility criteria are met.

Eligibility criteria can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/get-extra-early-years-funding

Rainbow will use EYPP funding to support positive impacts on the child’s development. Rainbow keep track of what the children’s EYPP money has been spent on alongside how this will or has benefited the child/children.

 

Deprivation Funding (DEP)

Deprivation Funding is paid directly to Rainbow Day Nursery School by the local authority.

Depravation Funding is available to support children whose parents meet the eligibility criteria and are in receipt of Early Years Funding. Local authorities are responsible for checking that the Deprivation Funding eligibility criteria are met.

The eligibility criteria is set by the local authority (which varies per local authority) and may take into account: –

• Child’s postcode
• Eligibility for Support Two-year-old Funding
• Eligibility for EYPP

Deprivation Funding is not child specific and can be used to support all children within the setting.

 

Additional Funding Information

Accessing only Funded hours
If you are only accessing funded hours, the funding is allocated to full days. Any hours left over will not be claimed by Rainbow Day Nursey School and these will not be used.

 For example, if you have 30 hours funding, this will be stretched at 22 hours per week. A full day is 10 hours, therefore using only funded hours would be 2 full days per week at 20 hours. The additional 2 hours would not be claimed and used.

 Using Funding at Another Setting
Using funding at another setting or transferring to Rainbow from another setting part way through a term, may mean that the number of funded hours you have available to you could be less.

 

Reduced Funding

If for any reason you have less than 10 hours funding per week and you only wish to access funded hours, there is an option to do a shorter funded day (8 hours for example). This can be discussed with the manager.

 

All-Year-Round Funding Stretched Limitations

All-Year-Round stretch limitations include two groups of children. An All-Year-Round stretch is, for some age groups, complicated but does require full three funding periods to be effective.

Therefore, a child can only access an All-Year-Round stretch from the funding period following their first birthday. If they have an entitlement prior to that (9-months-olds), for that one funding period, only the standard offer of termtime or funding period stretch can be claimed by your provider before fully commencing an All-Year-Round stretch.

4-Year-Old Funding – Children that turn 4 years old between 1 September and 31 March who are due to begin school the following September, therefore cannot access a full years’ worth of an All-Year-Round stretched offer.

Children who turn 4 between 1 September and 31 December and going to school from September will be entitled to receive a maximum of 360 hours (720 hours if claiming the 30 hours funding) between January and August. Children who turn 4 between 1 January and 31 March and going to school from September will be entitled to receive a maximum of 195 hours (390 hours if claiming the 30 hours funding) between April and August. The above totals are then stretched by number of weeks providers are open.

 

This policy has been written in line with the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Councils ‘Early education funding guide for parents and carers’ and the ‘Early education and childcare provider agreement’.

Rainbow Day Nursery School reserves the right to change the contents of this policy as and when needed.