Early Education and Childcare Statutory Guidance
Last month the DfE published an updated version of the early education and childcare statutory guidance. The new guidance is effective from 1 April 2025.
In further communications with local authorities, the DfE state that:
The updated guidance puts transparency at the heart of how the entitlement should be passed on to parents, including that all costs should be clear to parents upfront. We want to make clear that we are not seeking to stop providers from being able to charge for voluntary extras, but the guidance reaffirms there must be no mandatory charges for parents, in line with the underpinning legislation and the recent High Court judgment.
Please refer to the charging section of the statutory guidance, paragraphs A1.32 to A1.44.
We have received several queries regarding the requirement for children to take up their free hours in continuous blocks e.g., without artificial breaks in the entitlement. The example used in the statutory guidance (section A1.43) states ‘a provider should not offer 10am to midday and 1pm to 3pm as entitlement hours and offer only private paid hours in between.’
If this example reflects a pattern of attendance at your setting, please review your current offer to parents to avoid contravening the guidance from April 2025.
The DfE continues to disseminate information to local authorities, therefore further guidance on the changes will be provided as it becomes available.
Free Early Education Entitlement – Staff Contacts
Staff contacts must be kept up to date on the Portal. The Free Entitlement Contract Signatory is particularly important as this is who we send the FEEE contract to and cannot make payments without a contract in place. The same person may be listed several times if they fulfil different roles within your setting e.g. Manager who is also the Designated Safeguard Lead.
Please go to the staff tab and check your contact details are up to date:
Provider Portal – Data for Summer Term 2025
The provider portal will open on Friday 7 March for providers to add summer term 2025 data. The provider portal will close on Sunday 23 March for interim (70%) payments to be calculated and paid by week ending 18 April.
Eligibility Codes
Codes with an end date before 31st March will need reconfirming to make sure they are valid for the summer term 2025. Please validate codes as you receive them through the Eligibility checker in the Provider Portal. Click on Eligibility Checker and add the code, child date of birth and Parent/Carer NI number and submit.
Update: Household Support Fund (HSF)
A further food and energy referral opportunity through the HSF is opening from Monday 24 February 2025 and will be available until 28 March 2025.
One referral for food and energy can only be accepted within this timeframe and referrals cannot be back dated to earlier referral timeframes.
In addition to food and energy support, there is also support available for:
- Support for household essentials (found under the Triage network of support on the professional HSF webpage)
- Financial assistance for exceptional costs
As HSF support is only accessible through a professional referral, the HSF team request that you do not miss the opportunity to support and help our most financially vulnerable residents. Please ensure that you raise awareness and talk to the financially vulnerable adults and families that you work with to see if they would benefit from this valuable support.
The following webpage can be shared with your families so that they are aware of the support that is potentially available to them - Cheshire East Household Support Fund
Reminder to apply/reconfirm childcare funding codes for free childcare entitlements for working families with children aged 9 months to 4 years old
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