Newsletter for Early Years and Childcare providers in West Sussex
#24/2024 - Wednesday 12 June 2024
This week's newsletter includes:
- Business focus - Changes to holiday entitlement
- Sign up arrangements regarding Early Years Funded Entitlement for 9 month olds
- Post Headcount Exceptional Payment requests for children starting between 6 May – 14 June
- Early Years Funded Entitlements for 9 month olds - key messages for parents/carers
- Childcare Expansion Capital Funding - expressions of interest
- Early Years Foundation Stage Leaders Network slides
- Masters in Early Years Education with Early Years Teacher Status
- Early Years Training
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In January 2024, The Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2023 was introduced. Changes include:
- a new definition of a week’s pay for holiday pay calculations,
- reintroduction of the 12.07% of hours worked calculation method for irregular hours and part-year workers,
- introduction of rolled-up holiday pay for irregular hours and part-year workers,
- changes to the definition of a week’s pay for holiday pay calculations, and
- changes to carry over of holiday rules.
For leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024, there is a new accrual method for irregular hour workers and part-year workers in the first year of employment and beyond. Holiday entitlement for these workers will be calculated as 12.07% of actual hours worked in a pay period. Rolled-up holiday pay for irregular hours and part-year workers has also been introduced. Visit the holiday pay and entitlement reform web page and read the holiday entitlement web page to find out more.
If you indicated your intention to offer EYFE for Working Families for 9 month olds via your annual Provider Declaration form completed via the Online Provider Portal, you will have received confirmation by email this morning, 12 June, that your provider record will be automatically set up to offer 9 month old EYFE for Working Families. No further action is required at this time.
If you have signed up to offer EYFE, or amended your EYFE offer via the Provider Declaration agreement form in the Microsoft Word version after March 2024, you will have received an email from us asking if you would like to add 9 month old EYFE for Working Families to your offer. Please reply to the email to confirm whether you wish to add the 9 month old offer or not.
If you have not received either email and wish to offer 9 month old EYFE from autumn term 2024, please email free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk. We will send you a Provider Declaration agreement form for you to complete. Please check if you have received an email to your provider's main email address (usually the email this newsletter is sent to) before contacting us. To check if you previously indicated you would be offering 9 month old EYFE for Working Families, you can follow the “Changing a submitted form, or checking you’ve submitted a form” section of our portal guidance and click the "FE provider declaration form".
If you only offer EYFE for children aged 2 or above you can sign up to offer 9 month old EYFE for Working Families. This means you can offer funded hours to children who turn 2 between the beginning of term and headcount day. However, if the child starts after headcount, you will not be able to claim funding for this child unless an exceptional reason applies. A Post Headcount Exceptional Payment request would be required in order to claim this funding. The child turning 2 years old after headcount would not be a valid exceptional reason.
As the numbers of children submitted through the Early Years Census in January 2024 does not include children accessing the new Early Years Funded Entitlements (EYFE) for Working Families, the Department for Education (DfE) has requested that Local Authorities collect additional Census data for this summer and autumn term.
It is important that West Sussex County Council is able to accurately report take up of the new EYFE for Working Families to the DfE, to secure the maximum amount of Dedicated Schools Grant for the financial year 2024-25. Therefore, PHEP requests for children who have started after Headcount week and wish to access EYFE, from 6 May up to and including 14 June 2024, must be submitted to us by Wednesday 19 June 2024.
The online PHEP request form can be found on our providing free childcare web page under ‘children requesting a place after headcount’. Any PHEP requests for children starting after the 14 June must be submitted in line with the usual PHEP guidance and deadlines.
On 12 May applications opened for the 9 month old EYFE for Working Families. However we recommend families apply between 1 July and 15 August for children who are eligible to access the funding from September 2024. This is to ensure their codes do not expire before their child can access a funded place. If a parent/carer has applied for any of the EYFE for Working Families before 1 June, they will need to reconfirm their code before 31 August. It is important you let parents know when to apply and the dates they must have received their code by so it is valid for the autumn term 2024.
To help keep parents/carers up to date and share important reminders regarding EYFE, please follow our Family Information Service Facebook page. Some of our most recent posts include information on:
- parents/carers applying for EYFE for Working Families if they have a Tax-Free Childcare account,
- using universal credit with EYFE,
- applying for EYFE for Working Families if a parent/carer is on parental leave, and
- code reconfirmation reminders and deadline dates.
You can share our posts with families via your own social media pages or share our Facebook page with parents/carers so they can follow us and keep up to date. Please signpost parents to www.westsussex.gov.uk/ExpansionOfChildcare so they can find out more about the new EYFE offers.
As announced in the special newsletter on 31 May 2024, expressions of interest (EOI) are now open for projects that will increase the physical capacity of early years and/or wraparound provision in local areas where demand is likely to exceed existing supply. WSCC will also consider projects that will adapt or improve facilities to expand their use or make places available for a wider range of needs, including for children with Special Education Needs and Disabilities.
For more information, and to submit your EOI, visit the Childcare Expansion Capital Grants EOI page. The deadline to complete the EOI form is Friday 21 June 2024. If you have any questions relating to the Childcare Expansion Capital Grant, please email ChildcareExpansionGrants@westsussex.gov.uk.
Please find attached a copy of the slides from the recent EYFS Leader Network meeting. The network included an update on the Early Help offer and training to support the childcare expansion.
Are you an Early Years professional with a degree, who would like to do further study while working? If so, the MA in Early Years Education with Early Years Teacher Status at the University of Sussex may be for you. The course is funded by the government if you are eligible to study and work in England for the duration of the course, and meet other eligibility criteria. Find out more at GOV.UK: Early years initial teacher training. This practice-based, Ofsted ‘Outstanding’, course provides an opportunity to become a confident and reflective practitioner. Read the course flyer to find out more.
The course is recruiting now for September 2024 entry. You can apply now via the University of Sussex website. Interviews for this course will be held online via Zoom. If you have any questions or require further information, please email MAEYTSadmin@sussex.ac.uk
We have three exciting courses coming up this month. These courses are subsidised as part of our Expansion Support Offer, meaning all courses cost only £10 per person to support you and your setting with training. These are bookable on the Learning and Development Gateway and can be found by clicking the course titles below.
Please remember that you are required to book a space first on the Learning and Development Gateway and then pay 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
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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#23/2024 (Online Provider Portal downtime, Early Years Funded Entitlement (EYFE) for 2, 3 and 4 year olds – Summer Term Payments, Business Opportunity for Early Years Provision in Horsham, Starting School, Get ready for summer – Encourage families to check vaccinations are up to date, Oral Health Support in Early Years, Early Years Training)
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#22/2024 (Safeguarding focus - Coping with a crying baby and safer sleep resources; Advanced warning - Online Provider Portal downtime; Early Years Evidence Store expands to explore self-regulation and executive function; Final reminder Ofsted's Big Listen consultation - for adults and children; Kent Early Years Stronger Practice Hub newsletter - May 2024; Early Years Training)
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#21/2024 (Free Communication Friendly spaces event - change of time; Help for early years providers - new nutrition content; New Ofsted blogs; SEND and Inclusion newsletter - May 2024; Reminder - Ofsted's Big Listen consultation; Reminder - Early Years Foundation Stage safeguarding consultation; National Smile Month 2024; Early Years Training)
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#20/2024 (Business focus - Free business planning courses; Online Provider Portal downtime; Termly Provider Update; Final reminder - Wraparound Programme Funding; Reminder - Consultation on an experience-based route for Early Years practitioners; Coping with a Crying Baby and Safer Sleep - Free webinar; Childminding Week 2024; National Numeracy Day 2024; Now module available - Effective curriculum and assessment; Virtual school newsletter; Early Years Training)
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#19/2024 (Summer Term 2024 Headcount submissions close this Friday; Update on the Expansion of Childcare; Contact number for FE Finance; Advertise your job vacancies on the West Sussex County Council website; Tools for Schools website migration; Wraparound Programme Funding; Final reminder - Childminder consultation; Consultation - Experienced based route for Early Years practitioners; Free Communication Friendly Spaces event; Early Years Training)
Early Years and Childcare newsletter web page.
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