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As you will be aware, the government is currently consulting on the early years entitlement funding in light of the new extended offer for children aged two-years-old and under from April 2024. The consultation will close on 8 September 2023.
To access the consultation, please see the link below:
Early years funding - extension of the entitlements - Department for Education - Citizen Space
Important:
Where families have accepted a reception school place from September 2023, children are no longer able to access the early years entitlement funding with an early years’ provider.
Some schools choose to provide an induction period or a start date later in the term for reception class children to allow them the chance to settle in. Should a parent wish their child to access a place at your setting, due to their child’s school’s induction period, this must form part of a fee paid session.
Parents thinking of making a request for a delayed reception school admission should, in the first instance, discuss this with their child’s early years provider, prospective future headteacher and any other professionals involved as soon as possible.
If after discussion, parents wish to formally request the admission of their child outside the normal age group they should provide:
- a covering letter explaining the reasons for the request and details of the preferred school(s) to which admission is requested;
- an ‘Admissions Outside of the Normal Age Group’ form completed by the child’s early years provider/headteacher which includes information on the child’s abilities and development, how the child is performing against the recognised expected levels for their age group and the child’s social and emotional development. To request form and Guidance documentation, please email transport@derbyshire.gov.uk;
- the views of the headteacher of the preferred school(s);
- the views of the parent.
If you have a child in your setting in the autumn term 2023 whose fifth birthday falls between 1 September 2023 and 31 August 2024, please check that they have applied to the local authority and received approval to defer their reception-class place. If this is not the case, please provide them with the link below so they can make a request.
admissions.transport@derbyshire.gov.uk
It is important to note: The child will only receive the early years entitlement funding until the term in which the child has their fifth birthday, whether parents have officially received approval to defer or not. Parents will need to pay for the place, where the child continues to attend an early years’ provision the term following their fifth birthday, as approval to defer does not guarantee the child will be funded beyond their fifth birthday.
The Department for Education (DfE) has recently notified local authorities that they plan to publish the updated Statutory Guidance Early education and childcare - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) in spring 2024 alongside amended regulations which come into force.
As you will be aware, the current Provider Agreement for the delivery of the early years entitlement, expires on 31 December 2023. Therefore, in order to allow for the DfE’s updates to the Statutory Guidance, it has been agreed to extend the existing 2022-2023 Provider Agreement to 31 December 2024.
The Extension will be distributed via e-mail during the autumn term 2023.
Early Years Providers were notified via email, following the notification of the Early Years Supplementary Grant from the Department for Education (DfE), specifically the increase in the DAF funding to £881 per annum, the DfE has confirmed that the funding from September 2023 to March 2024 will be a pro-rata amount of £858.92 (which is equivalent to the £53.00 uplift multiplied by seven twelfths).
For those children who were eligible for DAF during April 2023 – August 2023 and who continue to be eligible for the early years entitlement for the 2023-2024 academic period, the local authority will be making an additional payment of £30.92 for each eligible child.
This will mean that DAF claims from September 2023 to March 2024 will be paid at the rate of £858.92 for this period.
To be eligible for DAF, parents must complete the Disability Access Fund declaration on the FE1 form and providers must see and retain a copy of the letter confirming the child is in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA). To receive funding for DAF, providers must tick the ‘Nominated for DAF’ box on the child’s funding details tab when completing actuals submissions via the provider portal.
For further information on DAF please access ‘Child weightings explained – EYPP & DAF’ via SchoolsNet - Funding and contracts.
Each year, the Early Years Finance team are required to make an adjustment to a number of claims for August ‘Actuals’. This is due to the child’s hours exceeding their allocation of 570 over the year.
In order to ensure you are claiming the correct amount of stretched hours, please visit our Stretched Funding Guidance where you will find calculations on how to split the 570 hours correctly across the year based on how many weeks your setting is open.
Please note, the maximum amount of universal / extended hours you can claim for a child who is stretching their funding is 12.12 hours per week which equates to a setting being open for 47 weeks of the year. By claiming this amount from the beginning of September and continuing to do so throughout the year, means the 570 annual hours will have been claimed by the end of July.
To ensure that funding claims are submitted within the published timescales, the local authority recommends that more than one person working within the provision (where applicable), is nominated to have access to the provider portal. This will help to prevent missed submissions due to sickness or leave.
Where there is a change to the nominated person who has access to the portal, please ensure you notify us as soon as possible to ensure their access can be removed and a new nominee reallocated.
Therefore, please access the following link: SchoolsNet - Funding and contracts where you will find a copy of the Provider Portal User Access Form. Providers should complete Section 2 – ‘Staff Leavers and Starters’ and return the form to the following relevant email address:
cs.enquiries.childminders@derbyshire.gov.uk
cs.enquiries.groupcare@derbyshire.gov.uk
cs.enquiries.schools@derbyshire.gov.uk
Locked out of the portal?
If you find yourself locked out of the provider portal or have forgotten your password, contact the Families Information Service by emailing: info.fis@derbyshire.gov.uk where you will be sent, via email, a password re-set.
Important:
To comply with GDPR regulations, please ensure passwords are kept safe and not shared with anybody. Passwords are unique to each specific user.
Where changes occur within the setting for example, change to the provision name, childminder name, address, telephone number, email address, business structure and changes to committee members and / or manager. Please remember to notify Ofsted and the local authority using the following email addresses as any of these changes may require a new Provider Agreement:
Ofsted: enquiries@Ofsted.gov.uk
cs.enquiries.childminders@derbyshire.gov.uk
cs.enquiries.groupcare@derbyshire.gov.uk
cs.enquiries.schools@derbyshire.gov.uk
Please also remember to update your setting's details with the Families Information Service, email: info.fis@derbyshire.gov.uk
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If you are a contracted provider and would like to receive text reminders when the provider portal is open / closed, please ensure you notify us (and Ofsted of course!) of your mobile number.
Where the local authority has received a mobile number from your setting, this will automatically be included in the ‘Texting’ notifications.
Please let us know via email if you wish to be removed from this Service.
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