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The DfE Early Years Census data collection will be taking place week commencing 16 January 2023. It is a statutory duty to complete the annual Census within the publicised timescales and deadlines.
Census Day: Thursday 19 January 2023
If you are a childminder, nursery, pre-school, out of school club, nursery unit of an independent school or governor run school, you will be receiving an e-mail about this from the Families Information team which includes an explanation about how to complete the on-line form via the provider portal.
It is vital that your Census information is submitted by Census Day Thursday 19 January 2023.
Please note: You are only required to complete the online Census form IF you have funded children attending your provision during Census week. You should record the normal situation during week beginning 16 January 2023. If children are temporarily absent, for example, sick or on holiday, you should include them. If your provision is temporarily closed, record the situation which would have applied during the week.
If you DO NOT have any funded children attending your provision during Census week, please confirm this by e-mailing: info.fis@derbyshire.gov.uk to avoid being chased for your return.
If you do not submit your Census return, the early entitlement funding will be withheld.
Please ensure you complete the online form for your data submission via the provider portal.
For further information about the DfE Census, please refer to the link below:
Early years census - Census dates - Guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Early Years Census – Thursday 19 January 2023:
It is extremely important that all children attending your provision for a funded place are included on the January / February 2023 Actuals submission. The Department for Education (DfE) allocates funding to local authorities for the early years’ entitlements based upon the information submitted by providers via the provider portal at this point in the year. This is the only funding that the local authority will have available to make payments to providers for the forthcoming year. The local authority cannot ask for additional funding from the DfE if more is required during each term, for example, as a result of providers missing funding claims.
Your submission must reflect the actual attendance of all funded children, their hours and weeks of attendance. It is essential that the ‘present during census box’ on the funding details tab is ticked for those children registered with you during the week commencing 16 January 2023 and that all children no longer in attendance are deleted from your ‘Actuals’ screen.
Please be reminded that the provider portal will be open until 22 January 2023 for the submission of January / February 2023 Actuals.
Please allow yourself plenty of time to input your information and do not leave it until the last minute in case you encounter any problems.
Important: If information is not submitted by this deadline, you will not receive your funding during the normal payment timescale. Financial Services are not able to make bespoke payments where submissions have been missed.
Once all the information has been submitted, please remember to click ‘Send Claim’. You will see a green tick stating that your submission has been successful.
If you experience any difficulties in submitting your data, please refer to the useful guidance information on the SchoolsNet - Funding and contracts tile in the first instance. If you continue to experience difficulties, please e-mail: cs.enquiries.groupcare@derbyshire.gov.uk; cs.enquiries.childminders@derbyshire.gov; cs.enquiries.schools@derbyshire.gov.uk and an Officer will make contact with you. Due to the volume of queries being received, please allow the Officer time to respond.
The Early Years Finance team are receiving an influx of calls from providers who have missed children off their headcount claim during the autumn term 2022. Can we please remind providers of the importance of submitting accurate claims, as stated in your signed Provider Agreement (where applicable).
5.5 The Provider is wholly responsible for the accuracy of all claims submitted to the Local Authority for Funding and the Local Authority accepts no liability in respect of any Losses incurred by the Provider as result of any failure by the Provider to submit a claim either accurately or at all.
14.2 Providers must complete accurate census returns using information supplied by parents on the FE1 Parent/Carer Declaration form. Claims must be submitted via the online Provider Portal by the given deadline dates, to ensure correct payments are made by the local authority. Failure to do so and to rectify errors entered in the Provider Portal within the term may result in inaccurate, delayed or withheld/non-payment of funding.
14.3 Providers who fail to submit monthly census returns within the published timescales will not receive a funding payment for that month. Providers must input data for the children they are claiming funding for, during the period the Portal is open, to receive a funding payment.
Please remember to only claim for the actual number of hours and weeks the child attends your setting.
The Early Years Finance Team continue to receive queries from providers where parents have not reconfirmed their 30 hours code.
As you will be aware, parents need to reconfirm their eligibility code approximately every three months. Although it is the responsibility of the parents to reconfirm by the end date of the code, providers also have a responsibility to notify parents if they have fallen out of eligibility and encourage them to access their childcare account as a matter of urgency. Therefore, it is in the provider’s interest to remind parents of their code ‘end’ date and to encourage them to regularly check their government gateway account to ensure they are aware of their reconfirmation deadlines. It is important parents DO NOT miss reconfirmation deadlines as it prevents them from falling into their grace period and they may lose their funding for the term.
It is imperative that providers check that all codes (for both new and existing parents) are valid on the provider portal before offering a place to the child.
The link below will take you to the newly created YouTube video which offers guidance on how to Check a 30-hour code and determine eligibility
Grace Periods
Although parents are only aware of their code’s start and end dates, providers will be aware of the grace period dates for each parent and should share these with parents who experience a change in eligibility status. Please be reminded to check eligibility dates carefully before agreeing a start date with parents.
Please note: Grace period end dates are dependent on individual validity end dates and are unique to when the parent applied. Providers are also reminded that parents are unable to start a new placement with a new provider during their grace period. However, if an ineligible parent finds work that takes them above the minimum income threshold during their grace period, they will be able to reconfirm and continue with their 30 hours. More information about grace periods can be found in the Statutory Guidance.
Where the portal is showing a code to be in a grace period, please Check a 30-hour code and determine eligibility using the eligibility checker on the portal as this is linked to live data held with the DfE.
If a parent has questions about their application or difficulties with applying or reconfirming their code, they will need to contact the HMRC helpline on telephone: 0300 123 4097.
As a provider you will appreciate that any financial help parents can get with the cost of childcare could assist the sustainability of your business. Therefore, it is important that parents can access any government childcare offers with you!
Over a million families in the UK are entitled to some form of government childcare support, but many are missing out because childcare providers in their area haven’t signed up to offer the various schemes. In parallel, many childcare providers are missing out on boosting their businesses by increasing demand as they aren’t accessible to families who use government childcare support.
Tax-Free Childcare is one of the government schemes available to help eligible working families with the cost of childcare. Eligible parents can receive up to £2,000 (£500 every 3 months) per child, per year for children up to 11 years or under and £4,000 for disabled children until they are 17 years old. Providers need to be signed up so that parents can use their Tax-Free Childcare account to make childcare payments directly into your bank account. The toolkit linked below contains a step-by-step guide to registering for Tax-Free childcare, helping you to make your services accessible to families who use government childcare support, boosting your business in the process.
Childcare providers information and communication toolkit 2022
Help your families access support by informing them of Tax-Free Childcare, Universal Credit for Childcare, and 30 hours Childcare support, by directing them to the Childcare Choices website where they can easily find the right offers of childcare support available to them. The childcare choices website also contains the useful childcare calculator which allows parents to see which of the offers is best for them.
You can also direct your families to the Derbyshire Families Information Service who will help them to navigate through the various childcare offers and support them with their applications. Parents/carers can contact Derbyshire’s Families Information Service by either telephone on 01629 535793, or by email at info.fis@derbyshire.gov.uk.
It is more important than ever that parents and carers are able to access the financial aid they qualify for. It can reduce their costs, help them to stay in work, or help them work more hours. The toolkit linked below provides social media posts and assets for you to use, to inform your parents of the support available and ensure they are not missing out.
Childcare parent information toolkit
Social media is a low cost, high impact tool which can help boost communication with parents and raise awareness of your setting. As well as posting on your channels whether with your own content or the with the provided graphics and videos within the toolkits, you can also share and support content from our Twitter account: @derbyshireEYFS.
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