Early Years and Childcare Special Newsletter
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Monday 22 January 2024
During 2023 the Department for Education (DfE) undertook a consultation on the proposed approach to distributing entitlements funding for 2 year olds (from April 2024) and term after 9 month olds (from September 2024), in light of the expansion of the government childcare entitlements.
As a result of this consultation the DfE will be extending the vast majority of the existing local funding rules, which relate mainly to the current 3 and 4 year old entitlements, to apply to the entitlement funding streams for children of working families aged 2 years old and under in 2024/2025. Information on Local Authority (LA) funding of providers for 2024/25 can be found here: Early years funding: 2024 to 2025.
In December 2023 the government published the new Dedicated Schools Grant funding rates for next year. Local Authorities are required to pass through at least 95% of its main entitlement funding to early years providers. We are mindful of the continuing pressures on early years providers and it was agreed at Schools Forum on 18 January 2024 that we would pass on 96% of this funding to you and the following rates for 2024/25 were approved:
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Funding stream
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Rate
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Increase from 2022/23 base rate
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3 and 4 year olds base rate
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£5.82 per hour
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an increase of £0.85
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2 year olds base rate
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£8.27 per hour
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an increase of £2.23
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Term after 9 month olds of working families base rate (from September 2024)
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£11.39 per hour
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N/A as new funding
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Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP)
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£0.68 per universal hour for eligible children
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an increase of £0.06
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Deprivation Supplement (Dep)
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£0.49 per hour for eligible children
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an increase of £0.02 (this will give a combined EYPP/Dep increase to £1.17 per hour)
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Disability Access Fund
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£910 per year for eligible children
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an increase of £82
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This means, that for those children who are eligible for EYPP/Dep, their hourly rates will be:
- 3 and 4 year olds - £6.99 per hour (base rate + EYPP/Dep)
- 2 year old base rate - £9.44 per hour (base rate + EYPP/Dep)
- Term after 9 months old of working families base rate - £12.56 (base rate + EYPP/Dep)
These revised rates will commence from the start of the summer term 2024.
We will prepare a short video explaining how the funding rates for 2024/2025 were calculated in West Sussex and share in a future newsletter.
The Indicative Budgets for your setting will be shared with you by the end of this financial year. We are looking to make these available to you via your secure log in on the Online Provider Portal.
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