Newsletter for Early Years and Childcare providers in West Sussex
#15/2024 - Wednesday 10 April 2024
This week's newsletter includes:
- Early Years Funded Entitlement Summer Term Actuals
- Validating 2 year old Working Families eligibility codes
- Early Years Funded Entitlement leaflets for parents
- Claiming Disability Access Fund (DAF)
- Transition Events
- Department for Education Roadshow - new date
- Oral Health in Early Years pilot programme
- Brilliant Babies to Terrific Toddlers - A Tool for Reflection
- Early Years Training
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The Online Provider Portal (OPP) is now open for you to submit your Summer Term EYFE actuals claim
Key dates:
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Headcount day: Thursday 2 May 2024
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Deadline for submission: Friday 10 May 2024
Help and Guidance:
- Information, YouTube videos and PDF help-guides can be found at www.westsussex.gov.uk/eycportal.
- Guidance for submitting Actuals can be found on the Estimates and Actuals web page. This guidance has been updated with instructions on how to claim for 2 year old EYFE for Working Families. Please read the guidance carefully and follow it step by step to support you in submitting your Actuals.
Important to note:
- EYFE claims can only be made for children who are in attendance during Headcount week (unless absent due to short term sickness or planned holiday).
- A Parent Declaration form must be fully completed and signed no later than Headcount day in order to claim at Actuals.
- Each child’s funding claim requires you to record their ethnicity, ensure you refer to the Parent Declaration form and select the ethnicity as stated by the parent/guardian. Please do not select ‘Unknown’ as the Department for Education require this information as part of the mandatory data collection.
- If you claim for a 2 year old child entitled to EYFE for Working Families under the “Disadvantaged” funding type your claim will be declined. Please follow the Actuals guidance carefully to help you claim 2 year old EYFE for Working Families.
Extended EYFE and 2 year old EYFE for Working Families claims - in order for an eligibility code to be valid for Summer Term:
- Parents must have applied for, or reconfirmed their eligibility code before 31 March 2024.
- The code ‘Start Date’ must be before 1 April 2024 and the ‘Grace Period End Date’ must cover the Summer Term 2024.
To check a code is valid for Summer Term use the online eligibility checker. Please note, West Sussex County Council cannot fund without a valid code.
If you have any questions or require assistance, please contact the Family Information Service on 01243 777807 and ask for the Specialist Team, or e-mail free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk.
A final reminder that it is a statutory requirement to ensure all codes are checked and validated before a child takes up a funded place. Providers must do this as soon as possible for any children accessing Early Years Funded Entitlements for Working Families in the Summer Term.
To validate an eligibility code, please use the eligibility checker on the Online Provider Portal. Our help guide will support you in locating the checker and provides important guidance to help you identify if a code is valid for the Summer Term or not. A code may show as valid with a green tick when you use the eligibility checker, but you must still check the Start Date, End Date and Grace Period End Date to make sure the code can be used for the term.
Checking and validating the codes as soon as parents provide these to you will help you to plan your funded places, as well as managing expectations and highlighting any actions for parents. This also provides West Sussex County Council and the Department for Education with an overview of the number of codes validated and therefore helps us to assess whether there are any potential sufficiency issues.
We are currently updating the Early Years Funded Entitlements (EYFE) leaflet to reflect the new EYFE offers. We have no more stock of the Free Entitlement leaflet that outlines the 2 year old Local Authority Issued funding and 3 and 4 year old EYFE. We understand providers are asked to share these with parents as a requirement of the parent declaration. Whilst we await finalised copies of the new EYFE leaflet you can direct parents to www.westsussex.gov.uk/FundedChildcare and www.westsussex.gov.uk/ExpansionOfChildcare so they are able to fully understand all the EYFE offers available to them.
Once finalised copies of the EYFE leaflet are available to order we will notify providers via this weekly newsletter.
If you wish to claim a DAF payment for a child this term, please ensure that you email us the following evidence:
- a copy of the letter confirming the child's current Disability Living Allowance award, and
- a copy of the child's Parent Declaration Form (using the current April 2024 version and signed by both parents and provider no later than Headcount Day, which is 2 May this Summer Term).
Having the relevant evidence sent to us will ensure we are able to process your claim and provide settings, with eligible children, a DAF payment without delay. If an out of date or incomplete version of the Parent Declaration Form is sent, the claim will be declined but you will be able to submit the correct paperwork the following term. We therefore ask providers to please ensure that the Parent Declaration Form is completed fully and correctly to avoid any delay in receiving the DAF funding.
Evidence should be emailed to free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk.
In newsletter #14/2024 we reminded you of the Transition Events for 2024. This year's Transition Events are just over two weeks away, between 1 and 13 May. If you have not yet booked your place, please do this today by visiting the Transition Events booking page on the Learning and Development Gateway.
On Tuesday 16 April, most parents of children starting school in September will have received their school place. If you find that you need to book onto an additional Transition Event to see a school you were not anticipating meeting with, please book via the Learning and Development Gateway. You can also cancel your place if you no longer need to attend an event that you had already booked.
In response to discussions had with schools and providers, we have updated the paperwork for the Transition Events this year. Please ensure that you use the updated transition event record as schools appreciate consistency in the information they receive from providers. You can find guidance on the transition process, including information to support you in completing the paperwork, on the transition web page.
We have created a code of conduct to support all providers and schools. This will help ensure a clear and consistent understanding of the Transition Events and the expectations that make the process successful.
In newsletter #13/2024 we let you know that the Department for Education (DfE) Roadshow was postponed. The DfE apologise for having to postpone the event originally set up on 28 March but are pleased to share a new date for the event. This roadshow will now take place on Thursday 9 May from 10.30am to 3.30pm at the Leonardo Royal Hotel Oxford. Registration will start at 10.00am when refreshments will be served.
This event is targeted at group-based setting leaders who have, or will have, a role or interest in providing additional places as a result of the government’s childcare expansion. There are 150 places available for one attendee per setting. Please read the Provider Roadshow flyer for more information. You can book a place via the online booking form.
Public Health are currently carrying out a funded pilot programme to support children's oral health in the early years. If your setting has not yet engaged with the pilot, please read the flyer from the Oral Health Teams that contains information on how to get in touch and request support.
As part of the Department for Education (DfE) COVID-19 Recovery Programme, the Kent Early Years Stronger Practice Hub (KEYSPH) has created a tool for reflection “Brilliant Babies to Terrific Toddlers” to support current and new providers working with children aged 2 and under. The production and distribution of these booklets is entirely funded by the DfE.
We will be distributing these to all providers registered to take children aged 2 and under on behalf of KEYSPH. We hope that you find the tool a valuable resource as you reflect on and develop your practice to support the youngest children in your setting.
If you do not currently care for children under the age of 2, but are considering caring for this age range in the future, you can request a copy of the document by emailing family.info.service@westsussex.gov.uk.
We are excited to announce a variety of new training courses for the summer term. These range from courses on behaviour, leadership, the essentials of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and the outdoors. These are bookable on the Learning and Development Gateway and can be found by searching key words relevant to the course, for example ‘outdoor’ or ‘leadership’. We are shining a spotlight on two of our newly released courses below.
Please remember that you are required to book a space first on the Learning and Development Gateway and then pay for the course via the payment steps and link which are shown on the course page. Your space is not confirmed until both booking and payment are completed. If you experience any issues when booking your course, please email early.years.training@westsussex.gov.uk.
Useful information
- 15 Apr - Portal opens for Summer Term actuals
- 02 May - Headcount day
- 10 May - Portal closed for Summer Term actuals
- 31 May - Inclusion funding deadline for Autumn Term
- W/C 03 Jun - Summer Term actuals payments due
We have a range of online training available for you to access for your staff to ensure they have the most up to date information to support them in their role:
Please inform the Family Information Service if your setting needs to close or is re-opening. Email family.info.service@westsussex.gov.uk and include your setting name, Ofsted URN, the date you intend to close/open, and any changes to your operating hours. If you inform us of re-opening, you will be reinstated on the public list and appear on our website www.westsussex.gov.uk/fis.
We would expect you to make contact with your Early Years and Childcare Adviser (EYCA) to talk through your circumstances, where possible, before making the decision to close the setting. If you are not able to make immediate contact with your EYCA then please email your nearest EYCA team using the following email addresses:
Where there are not clearly evidenced reasons why the setting had no option but to close, there could be implications for funding received as per the government guidance.
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#15/2024 (Business focus - Sign up to offer Tax-Free Childcare; Validating 2 year old working families codes; Reminder - Childminder recruitment and retention consultation; Kent Early Years Stronger Practice Hub newsletter and new supportive document for providers; Early Years Training)
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#14/2024 (Safeguarding focus - Dangers of laundry capsules; Accepting your provider declaration and estimate payments; Validating 2 year old working families codes; Transition Events; Pre-school immunisations; Ofsted's big listen consultation - for adults and children; Free trees for schools, nurseries and community groups)
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#13/2024 (High volume of calls and emails; Final reminder to check Early Years Funded Entitlement codes; Childcare Expansion Provider Forum update; Are parents/carers in your setting confused about the new childcare offers?; Department for Education Provider Roadshows - postponed; Review of the Ordinarily Available Inclusive Practice guide; Billingual support for Chagossian families; Ofsted updates)
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#12/2024 (Contacting the Local Authority Designated Officer; Warning - Online Provider Portal downtime; Early Years Funded Entitlement eligibility codes - Summer Term deadline; New funding policy and invoice templates available; Childminder consultation; Early Years Training)
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#11/2024 (Business focus - Funding for apprentices in your setting; Warning - Online Provider Portal downtime; Outcomes Framework for children and young people - parent/carer survey; Department for Education Provider Roadshows; Transition Events 2024; Department for Education COVID recovery programme; Jobcentre plus - support with recruitment; SEND and Inclusion newsletter - March 2024; Fraud guide for businesses)
Early Years and Childcare newsletter web page.
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