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Bulletin 381

9 March 2026

Welcome to our Early Years and Childcare Bulletin. Previous Bulletins are available at: Cheshire East Early years and Childcare Bulletin

Liquidlogic

Changes to funded weeks

The funding from the DfE for 2026-27 onwards will be linked to termly data rather than an annual census.  The number of funded weeks per year will continue to be 38.  However, the number of weeks per term will change slightly to align with the DfE.

Funded weeks:

During this transition period, children may be entitled to either 12 or 13 weeks in summer term depending on when they became entitled to the childcare entitlements.

Children with a birthday between January and March will be entitled to 13 weeks in summer term.  All other children will be entitled to 12 weeks.

These children will claim 13 weeks in summer 2026, 14 weeks in autumn 2026 and 11 weeks in spring 2027, giving a total of 38 weeks.

Other children with birthdays outside this range need to consider the number of weeks attended in the previous term(s).  For example, a child with a birthday in September will have claimed 12 weeks in spring 2026 and will claim 14 weeks in autumn 2026.  Therefore, the maximum claim for summer 2026 is 12 weeks, giving 38 weeks in total.  Claiming 13 weeks in summer term 2026 would exceed the 38 weeks maximum entitlement.

We are working with IT colleagues to update the parameters to ensure children receive the correct number of funded weeks.

The estimate submission window is now open. Please update your live register. However, please do not use the estimate submission wizard to submit your summer term claim until advised to via a message on the establishment portal. 

Establishment portal – spring term midterm changes

Midterm changes will be accepted until Friday 13 March 2026. Please be mindful of this deadline when considering requests from parents to change the spring term claim on their parental declaration form.

Midterm changes submitted after this date will not be accepted and any submissions will be rejected.

Please therefore carefully check that your spring term claim is accurate as funding cannot be backdated within the new system.

Establishment Portal – Summer term estimation

The estimate submission period opens on 9 March and closes on 20 March. Please add any future starters for summer term to the Live Register before submitting your claim.

• If you are aware that a children will not be returning to your setting in summer term, please change their hours on the estimate submission to zero.
• If a child on your Live Register does not appear as expected on your Estimate submission, please recheck their eligibility code.
• Please remind parents within their grace period to reconfirm their code. Eligibility codes with an end date of 31 March or before will not be accepted via the headcount submission and funding will be reclaimed.

Business Support

Sign up to Tax-Free Childcare if you’re a childcare provider

Click on the button below to find out how to sign up to Tax-Free Childcare and get a childcare provider account to receive payments from parents using Tax-Free Childcare.

Sign up to Tax-Free Childcare if you’re a childcare provider - GOV.UK

Safeguarding

Early Years Section 11 Safeguarding Audit

‘Working together to safeguard children’ 2023 makes clear the statutory duties for early years providers with regards to the safeguarding requirements for your provision.

To enable us to support you with these requirements, we have put together a short safeguarding audit to capture what you have in place in your provision. This has been emailed directly to each setting.

School managed or governor run provision do not need to complete this audit as schools complete separate Safeguarding Audits.  

If you have not already done so, please complete the audit in full by Friday 13 March 2026.

If you have started the audit but can not get back in, please email us and we can send you a link back to your partial audit.

If you have not received the audit email please contact: earlyyearsandchildcareteam@cheshireeast.gov.uk 

Car seats

Please see some links below to information providers might find useful regarding car seats:

Choosing a baby car seat - NHS

Choosing Child Car Seats | Child Car Seats

Print Child car seats: the law - GOV.UK

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) DBS Discussions

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) has launched DBS Discussions: Safeguarding in Focus, a weekly podcast series to help employers and safeguarding professionals better understand DBS services and processes.

Each episode will feature a subject matter expert from DBS who will discuss key topics relevant to employers, HR professionals, and those working in safeguarding. The first four episodes cover the following topics:

• What is DBS, and why does it matter?
• Understanding DBS checks: What are they and how they work.
• Basic checks – What you need to know.
• The Update Service

Click on the button below to watch the videos.

Understanding Child Protection Conferences and Planning: A Multi-Agency Learning Opportunity

There are still a number of spaces available on Understanding Child Protection Conferences and Planning: A Multi-Agency Learning Opportunity.

This course is open to all professionals working with children and families, across all agencies. Join us for an insightful and practical session that explores the Child Protection (CP) process, with a focus on what good practice looks like in CP conferences - centring the voice of the child and promoting family-led decision making.

Delivered by the experienced Safeguarding Independent Reviewing Officer (CP IRO) Team, Social Worker Lead Practitioners and Guest experts speakers from Education Services, this training will help you build confidence, strengthen your contribution, and work collaboratively to achieve positive, safe outcomes for children and their families.

To book a place, please click on the button below.

National Updates

Ventilation and air quality in education and childcare settings guidance

This guidance has been published by the Department for Education and is for those responsible for overseeing and managing education and childcare settings. This includes those responsible for the day-to-day running of buildings.

It explains how to:

• monitor air quality in your buildings
• make sure there is enough ventilation
• use air cleaning units

It also explains some of the benefits of ventilating your buildings and having good air quality.

Please click on the button below to view the guidance.

SEND

PSED, SEND or SLCN consultation

If you have concerns about a child's development in your setting, you can complete a request for a PSED, SEND or SLCN consultation. You will need to complete the online form and upload a parent/carer signature via the Cheshire East Young People and Families portal. Once the referral has been made our Portage, Quality and Inclusion Practitioners (PQUIP’s) or Cheshire East Chatters will get in contact with you to discuss the child's development and any advice and next steps to support them.

Please see the link below and instructions to complete a request for consultation:

https://childrenandfamilieseportal.cheshireeast.gov.uk/web/portal/pages/home

Once opening the link, select the ‘forms for professionals’ button.

Next select the ‘Request for Consultation with Early Years and Childcare Team’ button and complete the form.

Family Hubs

The impact of books

Last week was World Book Day! It is never too early to start sharing stories with children, from black and white books for babies, tactile books, books with bright pictures and rhyming words. Books provide a world of imagination and children love listening to the rhythm and rhyme of the text. In your book corner, ensure texts represent the different cultures within your setting and that there is an adult in the corner who can support children to turn the pages and share the stories.

Training

Spring Term Training available on the Early Years Training Hub

The ChESS Early Years Training Hub has been updated with lots of training opportunities for the spring term, please take a look and book on now!

Upcoming training next week:

Roles and Responsibilities of an Early Years Committee - 16th March 2026 18:00 - 19:00 (Microsoft Teams)

This training will look over the key roles of an early years committee and identify the requirements that form part of this valuable voluntary role. This training will include a delve into the key responsibilities around business, being an employer and Ofsted. The session will also include opportunities for discussion. Managers and deputy managers at settings are encouraged to attend with committee members in order to help ensure good working partnerships between the setting and committee.

Exploring Literacy in the EYFS - 17th March 2026 9:30 - 15:30 (Oakenclough Family Hub)

This session will support practitioner’s understanding of children’s literacy development from 0-4 years and how communication and language, physical development, print awareness and connecting sounds and letters create solid foundations for reading and writing skills. The session will also explore how daily activities like reading aloud, singing songs, and engaging in conversations are crucial for building these skills and fostering a love of reading and learning, building practitioner confidence to support early literacy in their own setting.

Attachment and Communication - 19th March 2026 9:30 - 12:30 (Microsoft Teams)

Join us to learn about the importance of early attachment and the links to speech and language development. During this course, explore attachment and how it links to communication development. We will discuss typical development and how to support children with speech and language needs and will also investigate the local speech and language therapy pathway and guidance around making referrals into the SLT NHS service.

Transitions in the Early Years (AET) - 19th March 2026 18:30 - 20:30 (Microsoft Teams)

This is an Autism Education Trust (AET) training course. This course aims to provide you with the knowledge, skills and understanding to plan transitions and implement processes to improve the education and wellbeing of children in the Early Years. There continues to be a significant increase in Early Years children at risk of exclusion from their settings, often linked to poorly managed transitions. Transitions occur throughout an entire person’s life, in both life stages, events, changes throughout the day, and even in between tasks. This training will develop your understanding of the differences between macro and micro transitions, increase your knowledge of why transitions can be challenging for autistic children, support you to identify the key principles of transition support in the Early Years and identify key considerations when planning Early Years transition support.