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Claiming Early Education

Funding Guidance Notes

*Independent, Private and Voluntary Providers

(including Academies and Childminders) claiming Early

Education Funding for 2, 3 and 4 year olds from

Oxfordshire County Council

September 2017 to March 2018

IMPORTANT - Please read these termly guidance notes carefully. If you

have any queries regarding the guidance please do not hesitate to

contact us.

Early Education Funding Team Education Sufficiency and Access County Hall – Fourth Floor New Road Oxford OX1 1ND Email: earlyeducation@oxfordshire.gov.uk Tel: 01865 894811

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Contents

HOW TO USE THE GUIDANCE NOTES ........................................................................................ 3

1 APPROVED EARLY EDUCATION FUNDING PROVIDERS ................................................ 4

2 EARLY YEARS PROVIDER PORTAL ...................................................................................... 5

3 EARLY EDUCATION FUNDING RATES AND FUNDED WEEKS FOR 2017/18

FINANCIAL YEAR .............................................................................................................................. 6

4 TWO YEAR OLD FUNDING ELIGIBILITY ............................................................................. 6

4.1 CONFIRMING ELIGIBILITY FOR TWO YEAR OLD FUNDING ...................................................... 7 4.1.1 POSTCARD ELIGIBILITY .............................................................................................................. 8

5 EXTENDED ENTITLEMENT ELIGIBILITY ........................................................................... 9

5.1 AUDIT DATES AND GRACE PERIODS ............................................................................................. 10

6 CLAIMING EARLY EDUCATION FUNDING ....................................................................... 10

6.1 INDICATIVE BUDGET .................................................................................................................. 11

6.2 INITIAL PAYMENT ...................................................................................................................... 11

6.3 HEADCOUNT ACTUAL TASK AND ASSOCIATED PAYMENT ...................................................... 12

6.4 AMENDMENT TASK AND ASSOCIATED ADJUSTMENT PAYMENT .............................................. 12

6.5 PARENT DECLARATION FORMS ................................................................................................. 13

6.6 STRETCHED FUNDING ................................................................................................................ 14

6.7 ADMINISTRATIVE CHARGE ........................................................................................................ 14

7 EARLY YEARS PUPIL PREMIUM (EYPP) AND DEPRIVATION SUPPLEMENT ......... 14

7.1 PROCEDURE FOR CLAIMING EYPP ........................................................................................... 15

8 DISABILITY ACCESS FUNDING (DAF) ................................................................................. 15

9 FINAL STATEMENTS ................................................................................................................ 16

10 LOCAL AUTHORITY AUDIT PROCESS ............................................................................. 16

11 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS .................................................................................... 17

12 USEFUL CONTACT INFORMATION ................................................................................... 18

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How to use the Guidance Notes These notes outline the claims and payments process for Private, Voluntary and Independent providers (including academies) who have access to the Early Years Head Count Portal. Prior to the start of each term, providers will be sent the following documents which will provide the term specific dates and information

Funding Timeline

Parent Declaration

Privacy Notice

Age Eligibility table

Headcount checklist These notes should be read in conjunction with the following guidance notes for using the Early Years Portal

The Early Education Funding Terms and Conditions

Head Count Portal Guidance Notes

2 Year Old Funding Provider Portal Guidance Notes

Provider Portal Guidance - Extended Hours Checking System The above guidance notes are the first place you should look for help with completing claims through the Early Years Provider Portal. The government will be introducing the extended entitlement of up to 30 hours for working parents from September 2017. As a result, new statutory guidance for local authorities was released in March which comes into effect from September 2017. Consequently, the terms and conditions of funding and these guidance notes and accompanying forms have been updated. Where the word ‘parent’ is used in this document it refers to parents and caregivers who have a legal responsibility for a child accessing Early Education Funding. This form is best read on a computer as it contains hyperlinks to other important documents. Our forms are available in a larger font upon request. Please call the Early Education Funding Team on: 01865 894811 (between 8:30 am and 4:30pm).

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1 Approved Early Education Funding Providers The free entitlement is delivered in Oxfordshire by a wide range of providers to suit the diverse needs of parents/carers and children. Private and voluntary providers must be registered with Ofsted; academies and independent schools must be registered with the DfE and all providers must be registered with Oxfordshire County Council to be included in the Approved Early Education Providers list. Parents are able to search for approved early education funded providers through the Oxfordshire Family Information Service Directory Providers on the funding scheme must comply with the early education funding terms and conditions and will reaffirm this agreement every time they make a funding claim through the provider declaration. Private, voluntary and independent providers include private day nurseries, pre-school/playgroups, childminders, nursery units of academies and nursery units of independent schools. Local Authority providers include maintained schools with nursery classes or foundation units and free standing nursery schools. The information on claiming funding contained within these guidance notes relate to private voluntary and independent providers. Sections of these notes will be relevant to maintained schools, such as information about the 2YO funding, EYPP and DAF, but as maintained schools are funded through a separate process much of these notes do not apply. Providers must inform the Local Authority whenever there is a change in their circumstances and these include but are not limited to:

A change in ownership, governance or premises.

A change to the name or address of the contact responsible for the free early education funding administration.

A change in bank details.

A change in their Ofsted inspection grade. Where such a change results in a new provider they will need to re-register with Ofsted and hence with the Local Authority for the purposes of the early education funding. Providers must give the local authority reasonable notice of these changes, especially if a payment is due to be made. Funding for two year olds is targeted at those families/children meeting specific criteria (see 4.2). The Government’s intention is that early education for two year olds is delivered by providers who have achieved an overall rating of ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’ in their most recent Ofsted inspection report. Therefore in Oxfordshire we would not automatically agree to fund two year olds in a provision that had an Ofsted ‘requires improvement’ at their last inspection. Providers that are newly registered with Ofsted can be accepted to take funded 2s. However, if the provider has recently re-registered with Ofsted and their previous judgement was less than good, they will not automatically be approved to take funded 2s. All Early Education Funding approved providers can choose whether they deliver the extended funding which will be bound by the same terms and conditions of the universal 15 hour funding.

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2 Early Years Provider Portal The Early Years Provider Portal is a self-service facility that must be used by all approved Early Years Providers to check eligibility for the two year old funding, validate eligibility for the extended entitlement (30 hours) and submit their termly early education funding claim to the Council for two, three and four year olds. https://myoneproviderportallive.oxfordshire.gov.uk/ProviderPortal_LIVE/Account/Account/Login The provider portal has three main functions Two year old funding

Assist parent / carers to submit online applications in order to check if they are eligible for the two year old early education funding

Search on assisted applications previously made

Via the system’s placement notification process, check and receive confirmation from the local authority of eligibility when presented with a 2 year old funding code (TYF or postcard). This replaces the necessity for providers to call the funding team to confirm eligibility

For more information on how to make an assisted application and placement notification, please see sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the 2 Year Old Funding Provider Portal Guidance Notes Headcount

Secure method of transferring information with the local authority (replaces the need to send information via egress)

Allows providers to add new children to their provision (formerly the EY1 form)

Allows providers to amend existing children (formerly the EYSUM form)

Allows providers to submit their termly claim through signing an agreement to an online declaration (formerly the EY2 form)

Offers a more cost effective and efficient process

Providers can amend their information right up to the deadline

For more information on how to submit your termly claim, please see the Headcount Provider Portal Guidance Notes 30 Hours Free Childcare

Validate 30 hours eligibility codes

Review previously run validation checks For more information on how to run 30 hours Free Childcare checks please see the Provider Portal Guidance - Extended Hours Checking System notes

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3 Early Education Funding Rates and Funded Weeks for 2017/18 Financial Year

The base rates for funded early education for the financial year 2017-18 are confirmed as follows: Two Year olds

All providers taking funded two year olds £5.52 per hour Three / four year olds

Nursery classes in Academies: £4.01 per hour Private/Voluntary/Independent Providers (including childminders): £4.01

per hour The funding rate is the same for the universal entitlement (up to 15 hours per week) for three and four year olds and the extended entitlement (up to 30 hours per week). Funded Weeks

Summer 2017 12 Weeks

Autumn 2017 14 Weeks

Spring 2018 12 Weeks There are 38 weeks of early education funding available to providers which is distributed in termly funding blocks as identified above. For providers that are offering the funding over the 38 weeks (i.e. do not stretch the funding) they are expected to follow the school term time calendar as a minimum. Unfortunately, the funding blocks do not always fit neatly onto the school calendar so in some terms you may be open for slightly more than the funded weeks and others you may be open slightly less. Schools are open for 39 weeks of which they will identify 5 inset days. Providers are expected to do the same and can choose when these days are taken. Parents, with children both attending pre-school and school, will find it much more convenient if both opened the same days during the year. Therefore, you may want to consider contacting your local school to see which other days that they are planning to take as inset days if you wanted to choose to match this. It is important that the provider is able to demonstrate that they offered the funding over the full 38 weeks (190 days) if they have deviated from the Oxfordshire school calendar. To encourage maximum flexibility for parents to access the 30 hours extended entitlement, some providers may only be open for a limited number of weeks per year (e.g. School Holiday Playschemes). These providers can still claim the funding but would need to work in partnership with other providers to deliver the full offer.

4 Two Year Old Funding Eligibility Families that meet one of the following criteria will be eligible for the 2 year old funding;

a) If they meet the eligibility criteria also used for free school meals*

1. Universal Credit

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2. Income Support

3. Income-based Job Seekers' Allowance

4. Income-related Employment and Support Allowance

5. Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

6. The Guaranteed element of State Pension Credit

b) When their families receive working tax credits and have an annual

gross earnings of no more than £16,190

c) When their families receive child tax credits providing their annual

income (as assessed by HM Revenue & Customs) does not exceed

£16,190.

d) If they meet the special educational needs criteria:

1. They have a current statement of special educational needs or an

education, health and care plan; or

2. They attract Disability Living Allowance (DLA)

e) If they meet the care and adoption criteria:

1. They are looked after by their local authority; or

2. They have left care through special guardianship or an adoption or

residence order

4.1 Confirming Eligibility for Two Year Old Funding To be eligible for the Two Year Old Funding, parents must be in receipt of a valid

reference number (this will start with a TYF and be a 15 digit code)

The TYF code can be obtained in the following ways

Citizen Portal (www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/twoyearoldfunding) – parents can

go online to check their eligibility

Via the Family Information Service (0345 241 2487) who can perform an

assisted check for parents over the phone

Assisted Application by Early Years provider – Providers with access to

the Provider Portal can complete assisted applications (see 2 Year Old

Funding Provider Portal Guidance Notes)

Once a family has applied for the funding via one of the methods above, they will

receive a 15 digit reference number, eg. TYF-0506-71L8VZF7. Parents should give

providers this reference number when arranging their early education funding place.

TYF numbers are generated for every application for the two year old funding,

including for applications that return an ineligible result. In order to avoid starting a

child who is not eligible for the funding, providers must complete a placement

request for the child to confirm their eligibility (see 2 Year Old Funding Provider

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Portal Guidance Notes section 6). If you do not submit a placement request through

the two year old portal, there is a danger that you will start a child who is not eligible

for the funding and the Council will not provide funding. Once a child has been

confirmed eligible via the online system, the child will remain eligible for funding until

they qualify for universal funding (term following their third birthday) regardless of

when they take up their place.

4.1.1 Postcard Eligibility The Department for Education occasionally provides local authorities with the names

and addresses of parents that are eligible for the two year old funding. Oxfordshire

County Council will use this information to send the parents a postcard that confirms

their eligibility for the funding. The postcards will have an eligibility code printed on

the information side. However, this offer is time limited and parents must use the

postcard within the allotted time scales as stated on the postcard and communicated

to providers via email. Providers must use the postcard to submit an assisted

application for the parent. If the eligibility check comes back as not found/not eligible,

Oxfordshire County council will honour the family’s eligibility as long as the provider

appeals via the non-economic route before the card expires. Alternatively, the

provider can click the “Request Help” button following the ineligible notification and

use the text box to enter the parent’s postcard code. For more information, please

see 2 Year Old Funding Provider Portal Guidance Notes.

The anticipated timings of these lists for the 2017/18 financial year are illustrated in

the table below. It usually takes 2/3 weeks after the Council has received the DfE list

for the postcard to arrive with parents due to numerous data checks being performed

before the information can be used.

Lists distributed week

commencing

Covers families potentially eligible in periods beginning

1 Sept 17

1 Jan 18 1 Apr 18 1 Sept 18

1 Jan 19 1 Apr 19

7 August 2017

4 September 2017

6 November 2017

2 January 2018

5 March 2018

3 April 2018

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5 Extended Entitlement Eligibility From September 2017, the Government is doubling the amount of free childcare available for eligible working parents of three and four year olds from 15 hours per week to 30 hours per week. The universal entitlement for all 3 and 4 years olds will continue to be 15 hours per week for 38 weeks of the year (i.e. 570 hours). The extended entitlement provides an additional 15 hours of free childcare for children where parents are eligible (1140 hours per year). Unlike the two year old funding, eligibility for the 30 hours childcare will be confirmed through HMRC rather than Oxfordshire County Council. Parents can check their eligibility through the childcare choice website https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/ Parents who need assistance to apply, or who do not have access to the internet, can call the childcare services Customer Interaction Centre on 0300 123 4097 and apply over the phone. Parents who complete their original application over the phone will need to phone the Customer Interaction Centre to reconfirm their eligibility. Please advise parents that before they start their application, both parents (unless a lone parent) will need • National Insurance number • if self-employed, their Unique Taxpayer Reference • the date they started, or are due to start work • details of any other government support they get To register an account a parent also needs a copy of their passport, a payslip or P60. If a parent is eligible for the 30 hours free childcare they will receive an eligibility code which they can then take to their chosen childcare provider to book a place. Childcare providers (including any school that offer 30 hours free childcare) will need to validate the code with Oxfordshire County Council before offering the additional 15 hours free childcare. Please see the Provider Portal Guidance - Extended Hours

Important - All new starters must have their place approved via a Placement Request on the two year old portal in order to claim funding. By completing a Placement Request, the child will automatically appear on the provider’s next headcount task. If a placement request is submitted after the headcount task has been issued, the child will not automatically appear in the provider’s headcount task and they must also add the child to the headcount using the “add child” button. The system should then find the child and ask you to confirm the match. Only funded two year olds who have had a placement request submitted should be added to the headcount. If you add a child without submitting a placement request there is the possibility of starting a child who is not eligible and you will not receive funding.

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Checking System notes for more information on how to validate codes in the provider portal Please note, 30 hours codes generally start with a 5. However, when there are technical problems with the automated system a temporary code is issued (manually) by HMRC. Both HMRC and the parent will be aware of these issues and would expect them to be working towards getting the permanent code issued as soon as possible. The temporary code is just a stop gap until the parent gets the permanent code. Temporary codes last between 3 and 4 months which should give time for the technical issue with the permanent code to be resolved. The child can start a place on the basis of the temporary code and checks can be performed in the provider portal against the temporary code. However, the parent will need to advise the provider of the permanent code once it is available and this should be updated on the provider portal.

5.1 Audit Dates and Grace Periods Parents will be required to verify their continued eligibility for the 30 hours free childcare every three months directly with HMRC. If they are found to be no longer eligible, the additional hours will cease at the end of a notice period. This is known as the grace period and Oxfordshire County Council will inform providers of which families are in their grace period after rechecking eligibility codes according to the 6 audit dates

12 September 2017

20 October 2017

2 January 2018

12 February 2018

2 April 2018

28 May 2018 Temporary codes will fail after the 3 months rechecking period therefore it is important that providers update these codes with the permanent code to enable to audit to take place. If the temporary code is not update, children will fall into their grace period.

6 Claiming Early Education Funding Early education funding for eligible 2, 3 and 4 year olds is claimed by approved providers through the Headcount function in the Provider Portal. Each term, providers will receive an initial payment at the start of term and a balancing payment based on the headcount return. Headcount enables Oxfordshire County Council to create requests (“tasks”) for information relating to children receiving early education funding. Early Years providers can respond to those requests by submitting online forms. After the providers submit their headcount data, the information is incorporated into the Local Authority’s database. The funding team will then check the information that has been submitted to ensure accurate data entry and will contact providers to deal with any anomalies. Separate headcount tasks will be issued for two year old funding and three and four year old funding.

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Please note, to ensure that you only claim for eligible funded two year olds; please ensure that you have submitted a Placement Request for each new two year old starter.

6.1 Indicative Budget At the start of the financial year, you will be sent an indicative budget which broadly reflects anticipated participation for the year. The budget will summarise the funding the setting received in the previous financial year to assist you with forecasting for the forthcoming year. It will also identify the amount of funding you will receive at the start of each term for your three/four year olds (see below).

6.2 Initial Payment At the beginning of each term, you will receive an estimated payment for the early

education funded children. Oxfordshire County Council will make separate estimated

payments for the two year olds and for three and four year olds. This is because the

estimated amounts are calculated in different ways.

Two Year Old Entitlement – an estimated payment will be made that reflects 60% of

the funding for the children that we had recorded as attending your provision at the

start of term (this applies to all providers except approved childminders - see

below). Initial statements will be sent to you demonstrating this. Funding for two year

olds that have a place confirmed after initial payment is paid will be paid in full

according to the weeks that they have attended, following the receipt of your

headcount claim.

Three and Four Year Old Funding - an estimated payment will be made that reflects

60% of the pupil count of the corresponding term in the previous financial year (this

applies to all providers except approved childminders - see below). Details of your

estimated payment can be found in your ‘Indicative Budget’ which was emailed to

you at the start of the summer term. The indicative budget for the 2017/18 financial

year will be based on attendance in the 2016/17 financial year. However, some

providers are likely to increase their claimed hours from September 2017 with the

introduction of the extended entitlement (30 hours). Providers are able to request an

adjustment to the initial payment by replying to an email that will be sent to all

providers before the start of each term.

Childminders – Estimated Payments

Approved childminders must contact the Early Education Funding Team by email to

earlyeducation@oxfordshire.gov.uk outlining their expected claim prior to the start of

the forthcoming term (please see term specific timeline for exact dates). Please see

the example overleaf for guidance on how you should inform the funding team of the

expected hours. The estimated payment for funded two year olds will be made as

described in the above section

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6.3 Headcount Actual Task and Associated Payment Actual payments are based on the total funding headcount claim for the term, less

the initial payment. Providers can submit their actual claim for funding by responding

to their Headcount Actual Task on the Provider Portal. Providers must claim for all

the hours that children attend in the current term and specify the dates the children

started and ended their funded place. Providers will be able to send through changes

to the actual headcount task by completing an amendment task that will be issued

towards the end of term.

Extreme care should be taken to ensure all data is entered by the specified

deadlines. Tasks cannot be re-opened after the deadline date has passed and this

means providers will not receive any payment for that Task if they have not

submitted their data. Care should also be taken to ensure all data is entered

accurately particularly when adding children’s and parents’ core details and

attendance information. The information gathered on the child’s parent declaration

form should be used to complete the forms (including the child’s full legal name

according to the ID supplied by the parent).

Please see the document Head Count Portal Guidance Notes for a full walk through

of how to submit your headcount claims.

6.4 Amendment Task and Associated Adjustment Payment The local authority provides funding in accordance with providers’ head count claim.

The headcount submission should include all children that have accessed their

funding during the term. However, children may start, leave or change their funded

hours unexpectedly after the headcount deadline. Providers must respond to the

Headcount Amendment task to notify the Council of these changes and an

Example

If a provider has 12 children attending for 15 hours in the autumn term (12 x 15 x 14 weeks = 2520

hours) and 12 children attending for 12 hours (12 x 12 x 14 weeks = 2016 hours then the provider

would need to email earlyeducation@oxfordshire.gov.uk advising that their anticipated claim is for

4,536 hours (2520 + 2016)

OCC will pay an interim payment based on 60% of 4536 hours = 2,721.6 hours (at the PVI rate of

£4.01 per hour this would = £10,913.62)

When emailing in your expected claim, please use the following format Funded Two Year olds: (Example) Child 1 : 15 hours x 14 weeks = 210 hours Child 2: 12 hours x 14 weeks = 168 hours Funded Three/Four year olds: (Example) Child 1 : 15 hours x 14 weeks = 210 hours Child 2: 30 hours x 14 weeks = 420 hours

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adjustment payment will be made at the end of term to reflect this. Providers should

also use the Amendment Task to notify the local authority of any mistakes that were

made when submitting their headcount task. The associated adjustment payment as

a result of the Amendment Task will also include EYPP payments for children that

have eligibility confirmed after the headcount deadline and DAF payments for

children for whom requests were received after the headcount deadline.

Unlike the Actual Headcount Task, when the Amendment Task is issued, it will be

populated with the hours and weeks that the provider has claimed through the actual

task. The provider must then use the edit headcount button to make the necessary

changes and submit the information. If a provider does not have any amendments to

make after the headcount task deadline, they do not need to respond to the

Amendment Task. Please see the termly timeline for more information on when the

Amendment Task will be issued and the Headcount Portal Guidance Notes for a

walk through on how to submit the Amendment claims.

6.5 Parent Declaration Forms A Parent Declaration Form must be completed and signed for all eligible children (2,

3 and 4 year olds) before providers claim the early education funding. These form

the contract with the parent on which the provider is authorised to draw down the

early education funding.

The DfE have produced a model parent declaration form which has been adapted for

Oxfordshire.

Sample forms for providers to use are available at

https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/content/example-forms-and-sample-invoice and

will be sent to all providers at the start of each term. The provider should request that

the parent brings in suitable ID (such as the child’s birth certificate, “red book‟ or

passport) to verify the child’s birth date and address prior to offering a place. The

Local Authority will require sight of any Parent Declaration Forms as part of the audit

process, and forms must be retained for 6 Years plus the current financial year.

The Parent Declaration form asks the parent to confirm the child’s ethnicity by ticking

the relevant box. Please then transfer this information into the headcount portal

when making your claim. The ethnicity descriptions are provided by the DfE.

Section 4 of the Parent Declaration asks for the attendance details for the children.

For each term the child attends, please tick the applicable entitlement and provide

the hours per day that the child attends. If children change their attendance within

the term, please add an end date to the original hours and add a row beneath

identifying the new hours. Parents will be required to initial these changes in the

space provided. The total hours claimed from Oxfordshire County Council must not

exceed to total available for the term.

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6.6 Stretched Funding Some providers, with parental agreement, make the funding available over more than 38 weeks i.e. a ‘stretched offer’. Providers choosing the ‘stretched offer’ continue to claim the funding on the basis that the terms are split over 38 weeks (I.e. to a maximum of 12 weeks in the summer, 14 in the autumn and 12 weeks in the spring). Providers must keep records to show how they have delivered the funding under the ‘stretched offer’. Please see the FAQs at the end of this document for potential delivery models of how funding could be stretched. A stretched entitlement options factsheet can also be downloaded from the 30 hours website (https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/content/30-hour-free-childcare-entitlement)

6.7 Administrative Charge Tasks cannot be re-opened after the deadline date has passed and this means

providers will not receive any payment for that Task if they have not submitted their

data. As stated in the funding terms and conditions, providers that miss the deadline

will receive a £50 administrative charge which will be deducted from your termly

claim.

7 Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) and Deprivation Supplement

The Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) gives providers of early education and childcare extra funding to support eligible 3 and 4 year olds. For information on eligibility for the funding and the process to claim, please see the EYPP webpage https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/content/early-years-pupil-premium. Providers are paid a pupil premium at the rate of 53p per hour for 3 and 4 year old children. Funding can be claimed for eligible children attending up to 15 hours per week (the pupil premium cannot be applied to the extended entitlement hours). Deprivation supplement This will no longer be paid as a single sum at the start of the financial year, but will be paid alongside the EYPP payments throughout the year, linking directly to individual children. Providers receiving EYPP at 53p per hour will receive an additional 47p per hour deprivation supplement making the total additional hourly rate the children attract £1 per hour.

Number of children Amount EYPP each year

Amount of Deprivation Supplement each year

Total Funding received each year

1 child £302.10 £267.90 £570

5 children £1,510.50 £1,339.50 £2,850

10 children £3,021.00 £2,679 £5,700

15 children £4,531.50 £4,018.50 £8,550

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Children will not need to access the full entitlement to be eligible for EYPP; providers will be paid on a pro rata basis.

7.1 Procedure for Claiming EYPP Early Years Pupil Premium can be checked through our online EYPP checker.

Further guidance, including guidance on using the online system, can be found on

Oxfordshire’s Early Years Pupil Premium website

https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/content/early-years-pupil-premium).

Applications for the funding can be made via this URL

https://www.cloudforedu.org.uk/oeypp/oxfordshire

Providers can check on the status of an EYPP application by accessing their OEYPP

account at this URL https://www.cloudforedu.org.uk/oeypp/oxfordshire/provider.

Funding will be paid alongside the actual payment for the term for children that have

had their eligibility confirmed prior to the Headcount Actual Task deadline. Payment

for children that have their eligibility confirmed after the headcount task deadline but

before the Amendment Task deadline, will receive the funding alongside the

adjustment payment

If you are yet to register an account or are struggling to access the system, please

email eypupilpremium@oxfordshire.gov.uk.

Once a child’s application for EYPP has been approved you do not need to re-

apply every term. However, the local authority will recheck eligibility at the

beginning of the academic year and children that fall out of eligible will no

longer attract the funding.

The EYPP code that is allocated to children should be recorded on the child’s Parent

Declaration forms for auditing purposes.

8 Disability Access Funding (DAF) Providers offering 3 & 4 year old children early education funding can claim Disability Access Funding (DAF) to support disabled children to access the free entitlement. 3 and 4 year olds will be eligible for the DAF if they meet the following criteria: • the child is in receipt of child Disability Living Allowance and; • the child receives free early education.

*Please note that four-year olds in primary school reception classes are not eligible for DAF funding.

A lump sum payment of £615 per year is available to the nominated provider. In order to request the Disability Access Funding, parents and providers will need to complete the DAF request form contained within the early education funding pack.

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By completing this form, the parent agrees to DAF funding being paid to the nominated provider/school and if they move the child to another early education funding provider during the year, the DAF funding is not transferable. The form must be completed and signed by the parent and provider and returned by the provider to earlyeducation@oxfordshire.gov.uk along with a copy of the child’s Disability Living Allowance letter confirmation. Payments for DAF requests received before the headcount deadline for the term, will be paid along with the Actual payment for the term. Payment for forms received after the headcount deadline but before the end of term will be made with the Adjustment Payment for the term.

9 Final Statements Provider statements will be sent to providers following the Actual Payment for the

term (please see the timeline for the term for exact dates). We would be grateful if

you could await arrival of the statement and not phone or email beforehand querying

your 3 and 4 year old payment, as we will still be very busy processing the two year

old funding claims. For providers that make an amendment after the final statement

has been sent out via the Headcount Amendment Task, a revised statement will be

issued at the end of term.

Your provider statement will clearly indicate:

o The payment you have already received for the term (estimated payment made in the first week of term)

o The total payment calculated for all your claims submitted

o Any payments for additional supplements

o Which children attracted the Early Years Pupil Premium

o The final payment for the term (your total claim less your estimated payment).

Should your setting have an overpayment, where the estimated payment made in

the first week of term is greater than the actual claim that term or as a result of the

amendment task the provider owes money to the council, the monies owing will be

deducted from your next payment from Oxfordshire County Council. Should we

require you to make a repayment before the following term, a letter will be sent

detailing how to make a repayment.

10 Local Authority Audit Process The Local Authority will audit a sample of providers each term in accordance with the

Terms and Conditions. This is primarily to ensure that funding is being claimed, and

paid, correctly and that parents receive their child’s entitlement free at the point of

delivery. Providers will be contacted by the Early Education Funding Team to

arrange a convenient time.

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Providers should expect a typical audit visit to last between 2 and 3 hours and during

a routine audit the most recent complete term’s funding claim will be checked.

An audit report will be sent approximately 10 working days after the audit visit and

this details any actions required by the provider. If the audit identifies any incorrectly

or falsely claimed funding, it will be recouped from the provider by means of an

invoice.

11 Frequently Asked Questions

11.1 Is it compulsory to offer the 30 hours? Providers are not obliged to offer 30 hour places. They can continue to offer just the

universal 15 hours entitlement. However, eligible parents will be entitled to 30 hours

per week and may choose to split their funding between two providers only offering

15 hours. Providers will need to ensure that those parents are eligible for the

extended hours in order to offer. If providers choose to offer just the 15 hours, they

will need to think about how parental expectations will be managed and make clear

any chargeable hours or sessions.

11.2 Do providers have to offer 15 hours or 30 hours and nothing in between?

Providers can offer up to 30 hours to eligible parents. If providers are offering less

than the 30 hours, they should ensure that the parent is aware of their full

entitlement.

11.3 Can childminders claim funding for their own relatives or relatives of their childminding assistants? Unfortunately, a childminder cannot claim early education funding for providing childcare for their own children or those of any assistants employed by them or children related to the childminder or assistant. This is because the legal definition of child care specifically excludes care provided for a child by a parent or step-parent or other relative (section 20 of the Childcare Act 2006). The provision by a childminder (for his/her own child) does not count as childcare in legal terms and therefore early education funding cannot be claimed, even if they are claiming for other children. 11.4 What are the potential delivery options for stretching the entitlements? 570 hours can be divided neatly into 15 hours delivered over 38 weeks. This is not the case for other delivery models. There are ways in which it can work. Parents can be asked to pay for the additional time or be given the option to withdraw their children for the additional hours. The table below illustrates the variation in hours for different delivery models.

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15 hours of free entitlement Hours per five day week

Number of weeks

Total annual hours

Variation

15 38 570 0 14 41 574 4 13 44 572 2 12 48 576 6 11.5 50 575 5

30 hours of free entitlement Hours per five day week

Number of weeks

Total annual hours

Variation

30 38 1140 0 28.5 40 1107 0 25.5 44 1122 18 23.5 48 1128 12 22.5 50 1125 15

11.5 A child wants to access the early education funding after the Headcount

Deadline. Am I eligible for funding for that child?

Yes. Please add the child to your Headcount Amendment Task 11.6 How many hours per day can be offered to parents? Providers can claim up to 10 hours per day to eligible children. Providers are strongly encouraged to continue to offer a maximum of 6 hours especially for vulnerable funded two year olds. However to enable maximum flexibility for the 30 hours and where parents would prefer, the Terms and Conditions now state a maximum of 10 hours per day.

12 Useful Contact Information

Early Education Funding

Team earlyeducation@oxfordshire.gov.uk 01865 894811

Family Information Service fis.enquiries@oxfordshire.gov.uk 0345 241 2487

Early Years Team Early.years@oxfordshire.gov.uk 0845 604 2346

Information about the 30

hours extended entitlement 30hours@oxfordshire.gov.uk