 From October 2026, local authorities must offer providers the option to receive early education funding via monthly payments to any provider that requests it. To meet this requirement, from 1 September, we would like to offer you the following choice of payment frequency:
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Termly upfront payments with initial payment at the beginning of each funding period and up to 2 adjustment payments as required (current arrangement); or
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Monthly instalments spread across the funding period.
Portsmouth City Council is considering offering both options from the start of the autumn term on 1 September 2026 and would like to understand providers' preferences before finalising arrangements.
Please note as we are part way through the financial year, we are having to make manual short-term changes to our current payment processes to facilitate monthly payments for any settings that wish to change their payment frequency as an interim arrangement. Therefore, your preferred option selected will apply for both Autumn 2026 and Spring 2027 and cannot be changed during this trial period.
We will review its operation during this trial period and may change our payment process for future financial years. We intend to give you the choice to change your choice of payment frequency in advance of the next and subsequent financial years.
We are working with the council's finance and Synergy support teams to create the process to manage this change. Currently the actual model to be used has not been finalised; however, our proposals are listed below.
 Option 1 - Termly upfront payment (current arrangement)
- 100% lump sum payment of all funded hours submitted on actual task (including EYPP where applicable) processed in the first working week of each funding period.
- Up to two adjustment payments made during the term if required (including any DAF and additional EYPP funding) after adjustment tasks have been completed.
Option 2 - Monthly payments
- Funding paid by monthly instalments across the funding period.
- Payments processed on the 15th of each month, or the next working day if the 15th falls on a weekend or bank holiday.
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Instalments may be increased or decreased following amendment claims to reflect actual funded hours.
- EYPP and DAF payments would be paid in full in the final monthly payment of the funding period.
We need to know which payment option you would like, so please let us know by completing the survey at the button below before Friday 24 July 2026. If we don't hear from you, we will assume that you wish to remain on the current termly payments.
Please submit your response by Friday 24 July 2026.
Thank you for taking part in this consultation.
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