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From September 2025 the final stage of the government’s rollout will occur, with eligible working parents being able to access up to 30 funded hours per week (over 38 weeks a year) from the term after their child turns 9 months old until they reach school age.
All eligible working parents of children who will be at least nine months old on or before 31 August 2025, can apply for the government’s childcare expansion. Parents can check their eligibility and apply at Childcare Choices.
If you’ve not already done so, please ensure you talk to those parents who are currently receiving the 15-hours working parent entitlement, to agree how many hours they wish to use from September. As always, where a parent wishes to make a change to their child’s funded hours, please ensure the FE1 Form ‘Contract Amendment Sheet’ remains up to date.
Prior to the summer holidays, please be reminded to ensure that codes are validated ahead of a child taking up a funded place in the autumn term, as set out in the DfE’s Statutory Guidance. This is particularly important for children taking up a place for the first time from September. Following a parent being issued with an HMRC 11-digit code, they are required to update their details on their gateway account approximately every 3 months.
Important: It is imperative that providers check HMRC 11-digit codes are valid (start and end dates) for both new and existing parents. Codes should be checked via the existing Eligibility Checker on the provider portal (which is always open) before offering a place to the child in order to avoid parents being issued with an unexpected invoice for childcare that the provider initially agreed would be funded.
Please be reminded: A child is not eligible to start a new funded place at an early years’ setting during the code’s grace period.
Please also be reminded that parents must have applied for their HMRC working family code, the term prior to which they wish to access their funded place:
The local authority does not have discretionary funds to secure additional funded hours where the parent has applied or reconfirmed after the 31 March, 31 August or 31 December deadline dates.
If a parent has questions about their application or difficulties with applying or reconfirming their code, please refer them to the HMRC helpline on telephone: 0300 123 4097.
The two-year-old ‘assessment-based’ terminology is changing to; families receiving ‘additional support’. This is in line with the DfE’s terminology and is displayed on the Provider Portal as ‘additional support funding’.
For your information, please refer to: Eligibility criteria for families receiving additional support for 2 year olds - GOV.UK.
The provider portal will be open from 01 – 21 September 2025 for the submission of Sept / Oct 2025 Actuals.
Important: Please be reminded, that funding claims should be submitted as term-time hours only on the provider portal. However, providers can continue to support families by delivering funded hours via a stretched delivery model over the holiday periods and therefore, no August claims are required.
Please note: the early years funding for the autumn 2025 term starts week commencing 08 September 2025, as outlined on the early years’ entitlement funding calendar 2025 - 2026.
For those providers who deliver a stretched model, funded hours can commence from week commencing 01 September 2025.
The provider portal is currently open until 01 August 2025 for the submission of July 2025 Adjustments.
The provider portal will remain open until 25 August 2025 for the submission of September / October 2025 Estimated hours, which relates to 7 term time weeks (week commencing 08 September – week commencing 20 October).
Important: Please ensure data is submitted accurately on to the system and all children’s hours are included. 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.
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.
The National Wraparound Childcare Programme has been developed to increase the amount of out of school provision available to parents. The aim of the programme is to ensure childcare provision is regular with longer hours for working parents, enabling them to access employment or expand working hours. The local authority is working towards the government ambition for all primary school aged children, who want it, to be able to access wraparound provision by September 2026 from 8.00am to 6.00pm every day.
The Wraparound Programme Funding is still available, and we are continuing to accept applications.
The wraparound programme aims to remove barriers to setting up or expanding provision, including removing the financial risk of setting up new provision when demand is not yet guaranteed. The expectation is that provision will become self-sustainable through parental payments alone by the end of the funding period.
Please email the Sufficiency Team: CS.SufficiencyService@derbyshire.gov.uk, if you are considering setting up wraparound provision and would like to apply for funding or if you would like to find out more about the programme.
The Department for Education is encouraging early years providers to sign up for their new email updates. These emails will share the latest announcements, guidance, and news from the Department for Education on early years education reforms and childcare expansion.
Please sign-up using the link below:
www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/provider-guidance-and-resource
If you have any queries regarding the delivery of the early years entitlement funding, please contact us via the relevant e-mail:
cs.enquiries.childminders@derbyshire.gov.uk
cs.enquiries.groupcare@derbyshire.gov.uk
cs.enquiries.schools@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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