We have a legal duty to secure sufficient early years education for children in the area, to improve outcomes for young children, reduce inequalities between them and to secure sufficient childcare to enable parents to work.

From September 2010 funding is available from the Department for Education (DfE) to enable every three and four year old to receive up to 15 hours a week of free early years provision, flexibly, to meet parents’ needs.

Our priority for the coming years is the delivery of high quality childcare which gives children the best start and offers a real choice to parents to enable them to balance family and work commitments.

We want to work with you to achieve excellence in delivering early years and childcare provision in North Somerset. Quality and flexibility are key conditions that you will need to fulfil to receive funding.

We hope this guide will help you to understand more about improving your service delivery to meet children’s needs.

It attempts to clarify the registration process for all early years education providers wishing to claim funding; provide guidance around the criteria for eligibility and ongoing funding criteria and also to outline the procedures for managing the funding system in order that the process operates in a smooth and effective manner.

The North Somerset Code of Practice adopts and builds on the Government’s Code of Practice for Local Authorities on Delivery of Free Early Years Provision for 3 & 4 year olds

Data protection

If you have any queries regarding data protection please ring the Council on 01934 888888 and ask for the Data Protection Officer, or send an e-mail to Data.Protection@n-somerset.gov.uk

Providers must keep copies of all documents for the current financial year and 6 years prior to that year.

Privacy Notice – This notice explains how you, North Somerset Council and the Department for Education collect and use the information you hold about children.

These can be issued to all parents in your induction packs or be displayed on your website, or you can put a paper copy on your notice board.

All these methods of communication should direct parents to North Somerset Council’s website where you will find our Privacy notices which has more detailed information.

Funding for two year olds

North Somerset Council has funding to provide free early education for 50 disadvantaged two year olds across the authority each year.

Health visitors and children’s centres identify families with eligible two year olds and make referrals, using the Common Assessment Form, which are assessed by multi-agency panels.

The Department for Education stipulates that families receiving this funding must be ‘workless’ eg, in receipt of one or more of the following - Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Child Tax Credit at a rate higher than the family element, Extra Working Tax Credit relating to a disability, or Pension Credit.

To these criteria we have added some locally agreed eligibility criteria relating to family, parental or child characteristics to identify the 50 children who will receive the funded childcare.

The table below shows when an eligible child would be able to start a two year old funded placement.

	Date of birth
Funding starts	1/9/08- 31/12/08	1/1/09- 31/3/09	01/04/09- 31/08/09	01/09/09- 31/12/09	1/1/10- 31/3/10	01/04/10- 31/08/10
01/01/2011	x
01/04/2011		x
01/09/2011			x
01/01/2012				x
01/04/2012					x
01/09/2012						x

If you want a child to be assessed for funded two year old childcare, please contact your local Children’s Centre. Contact details are available from the Family Information Service on 01934 426 300 or fis@n-somerset.gov.uk

I am a new provider, how will I get funding?

We will send you a ‘new provider pack’ which will include all the forms that we require for you to join our Directory of Providers registered to receive early education funding for 3 and 4 year olds.

As you have no previous year’s data, we are unable to issue an initial formula for your provision. Can you please let us know the estimated free entitlement hours that you anticipate you will deliver to all three and four olds in head count week using the new providers details form.

We will use this to estimate a monthly payment for you. This will be amended when your actual head count information is known.

Before any payment can be made you must return all the required paperwork included in your new provider pack. Payment of the funding will be made by the first of the month according to our monthly payments timetable

Quality

We are committed to improving quality in all providers so that all children have access to high quality provision which supports their learning and development.

The free entitlement is part of a wider drive to invest in quality which includes the introduction of the Early Years Single Funding Formula, Graduate Leader Funding and the Quality and Access Capital funding.

The Learning Team has developed a process for identifying the highest quality providers across all sectors using the Early Years Quality Improvement and Support Programme (EYQISP) tools to enable it to prioritise its support to those providers of lower quality which are delivering the free entitlement.

What are audit visits?

We are required to make regular audit checks on providers to ensure that no fraudulent claims are being made.

The Early Years Funding Team conduct audit visits by appointment on a rolling timetable.

The audit involves checking all the claims for funded children during the previous year.

What can providers charge for?

The free entitlement must be completely free at the point of delivery with no conditions of access to which parents must agree in order to take-up their free hours, ie, they must not be obligated to purchase additional hours or pay lunch time charges in order to secure free provision.

Providers cannot charge “top up” fees (the difference between what a provider would normally charge and the funding they receive from North Somerset Council to deliver the free entitlement) in relation to any free hours.
Parents cannot be required to pay up-front and be refunded at a later date or be charged fees in order to access their entitlement (eg, registration fees, deposits, uniforms).
The free entitlement must not be represented to parents as a monetary subsidy but as free funded hours.
Providers can make a reasonable charge for meals provided to children during the day. But for some parents, charges for meals may present a significant barrier, which in practice denies children access to the free entitlement so children should be allowed to bring a packed lunch. In all cases snacks, meals and drinks provided should be healthy, balanced and nutritious.
Providers must supply parents with clear written information about any fees or charges for additional services. This must state clearly what parents will be charged for, how much they will be charged, how the funded hours will be shown on the bill, how they will be billed and how often they will be billed. Providers must provide the local authority with a copy of these documents if requested to do so.

What dates does the funding cover?

The funding dates are set nationally by the Department for Education.

Summer: 1 April – 31 August maximum 21 weeks

Autumn : 1 September – 31 December maximum 16 weeks

Spring : 1 January – 31 March maximum 13 weeks

What forms do providers have to fill in?

Children's Information Form

Providers must return a Children's Information Form for every eligible child before they claim funding for the first time.

You must return a copy of the child’s birth certificate or passport with this form to prove eligibility. This form helps us to collect accurate information so that we can pre-print children’s names on provider head count forms.

If a child has a change of name providers must send a copy of the legal documentation to support this change to ensure that records are kept up to date.

Head count form

Pre-printed Head Count Forms containing details of eligible children who were funded in the previous period are issued at the start of the funding period.

It is the provider’s responsibility to check that children who are eligible for funding are entered on the form with the number of hours they wish to claim and the number of weeks this is being claimed over (this must not exceed the number of weeks you have specified in your funding dates).

These must be completed, dated and signed in the head count week. Forms incorrectly completed will be returned to you. As part of the Early Years Census in January you are also required to enter the total number of hours each child attends during head count week, this is the total number of funded and unfunded hours, to the nearest half hour.

We also need to know if any child is on Early Years Action or Early Years Action Plus.

If a child leaves after Head Count week you should inform the local authority using a leaver's form. No payment will be made for children who leave before Head Count week.

No payment adjustment will be made for any children that join/leave/increase or decrease hours after Head Council week. Providers are expected to admit eligible three and four year olds who request places after Head Count Week and provide the remaining entitlement hours free of charge, provided this does not require them to employ additional staff to meet adult to child ratios.

The local authority must be informed, in writing, of any changes to a registered provider’s details, eg, change of premises, ownership, office holders, or payment details. Ofsted and the local authority must be informed immediately if a provider closes, and the registration certificate returned to Ofsted, as it is a legal document.

Parent's Declaration Form

The head count form must be accompanied by a signed Parent's Declaration Form for each child showing the number of hours that are claimed.

This data must match the data on the head count form. Parents must initial any changes on the Parent's Declaration Form. This information must be returned by the specified deadline date for each funding period.

Payment will not be guaranteed if forms are received after the deadline. Please return the yellow copy with your claim, parents keep the green copy and retain the pink copies for your records. You are required to keep these copies for 6 years plus the current year.

Attendance register

Providers must keep accurate information on all children in their care. This includes legal name, date of birth, current address and gender and an accurate register of attendance.

At each claim you must send a copy of the signing in/out sheets for Monday to Friday of Head Count Week. You must also include a copy of the signing in/out sheets showing Monday to Friday of the last full week of the previous funding period (this is not needed the first time that you claim).

Annually childcare providers need to supply:

Insurance certificate - Annually providers must provide a copy of their insurance certificate valid as at the date of each headcount and providing cover for all dates during any funding period.

This includes third party insurance in a sum not less than £10 million in respect of any one act or occurrence or series of acts or occurrences arising from one cause; and employers’ liability insurance to comply with statutory requirements with a minimum limit of £10 million.

Audited accounts - a copy of your most recent audited accounts or a statement of nursery income.

Opening dates – providers must supply details of their opening dates, the number of weeks of funded care they are claiming in each period and the number of sessions they offer per week.

Providers are only funded for the number of weeks that they provide the entitlement. This does not include bank holidays or inset training days. If providers intend to claim for less than the 38 weeks, they must make parents aware of this and the potential consequences to them as a result.

Parents may take up fewer than 38 weeks at the provider of their choice but the local authority is not obliged to fund an alternative provider for the additional weeks.

Provider contract - a signed early education provider contract to confirm that you agree to comply with the registration requirements.

Bank mandate - Providers must have a business bank account. Monies cannot be paid into a private individual’s bank account with the exception of funded childminders.

Each year providers must supply a copy of the bank mandate for their business account or a copy of a letter from the bank giving name of the account, the type of the account, e.g., sole trader, dual signatory and the number and names of the signatories to the account.
This is also required if you change your bank details.

Early Years Census - The Department for Education conducts an Early Years Census in the third week of January every year.

Providers have to complete a census form giving provider and children details and return it to the Early Years Funding Team by the end of January.

The information from these returns determines how much money North Somerset Council receives in funding from the Department for Education for three and four year olds.

What happens when a child goes to school?

All three year olds can access their entitlement for up to six funding periods before they reach statutory school age (ie, the beginning of the school term following the child’s fifth birthday).

When a child is due to start school, the school may be running a staggered entry system. If the child is attending school by the time of Head Count week then funding will not be available for any other type of provision within that funding period. This means that the parent will have to be charged.

If a child delays their entry into school until the start of Year 1, the provider must carry out the statutory assessment for the child, that is, the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile.

What if a child attends more than one provider?

A child can only claim with two providers (except where the third provider is a specialist SEN provider or the child is looked after by the local authority).

The parent must indicate how many hours of funding they wish to claim with each provider. In the event that a parent claims more than 15 hours in a week the parent will decide where they wish to use their entitlement unless the child attends a Local Authority (maintained) nursery class.

In this case the funding must be claimed at the school for the number of hours that a child attends from their overall entitlement. Any remaining entitlement hours can be claimed at a private, voluntary or independent provider that the child attends.

If a child attends a second provider in a different local authority, both authorities will calculate how the funding will be allocated. Providers must ensure that this information is included on the Parent's Declaration form.

What is flexible delivery?

From September 2010 an eligible child attending a North Somerset provider can:

Access a maximum of 15 hours a week over a minimum of 3 days, over 38 weeks or less;
Stretch the 570 hour annual entitlement over a period of more than 38 weeks in a year, by reducing the number of hours taken each week;
Choose to take the entitlement with a provider offering fewer than 38 weeks of provision, but if they do so in preference to an available provider offering 38 weeks the local authority will not be obliged to fund a provider to make up the additional weeks;
Access a session length of 3 hours. A session length of 2.5 hours will be acceptable only where issues such as availability of premises do not enable
3 hour sessions. Above 3 hours, funding will be paid for part hours in intervals of 30 minutes, eg 3½ hours;
Access a maximum of 6 funded hours in one day;
Access funding at a maximum of 2 providers at any one time (except where the third provider is a specialist SEN provider or the child is looked after by the local authority);
Access funded hours between 8.00 am and 6.00 pm;
Access their free entitlement via the following core models:
- 3 hours a day over 5 days a week,
- 5 hours a day over 3 days a week, or
- 6 hours + 6 hours + 3 hours over 3 days a week.

Every provider does not have to offer every model of delivery and providers can offer the entitlement more flexibly than these models provided they are within the parameters of the local definition.

Providers will not be expected to agree to the flexible requests from every individual parent and it is understood that changes to patterns of delivery to more flexible provision will need to be sustainable.

Providers will be expected to be able to demonstrate that they have taken on board the wishes of parents when deciding upon their pattern of delivery of the free entitlement.

What is the "stretched offer"?

Parents may request to “stretch” the way they claim the 570 hours of early years entitlement so that their child can access provision all the year round. Parents can request to stretch the entitlement over different numbers of weeks to suit their family circumstances.

Providers must be open for more than 38 weeks a year to stretch the free hours. The maximum number of weeks that a parent can claim in a year is 50 weeks. Providers should make it clear in their information to parents that if they want to “stretch” the offer that they cannot claim 15 hours a week.

You need to discuss with the parent how they want to claim the funding and agree if you are able to offer the pattern that they want to claim. The child has to attend the same number of hours each week during the funding period and to be claiming this number in head count week.

If you are open, you can stretch your funding up to the maximum number of weeks permitted in each funding period. See below for the maximum number of weeks and hours that can be claimed in each funding period.

Funding period	Maximum number of weeks that can be claimed in a funding period	Maximum number of hours that can be claimed in a funding period
Summer	21	315
Autumn	16	240
Spring	13	195

To make sure that a parent does not claim more than 570 hours in any 12 month period we add the total number of hours that each child has claimed in the current funding period to the hours claimed in the previous two funding periods.

Where a child attends more than one provider then we add up the hours attended at both providers. We do these calculations at the end of every funding period as a child’s individual entitlement starts from the funding period that they begin claiming. Each child is assessed on the basis of a rolling year (current funding period plus two previous ones), not on an academic year (September to July) or a financial year (April to March).

Example 1: shows a spring funding claim where a child attends 2 providers for a total of 11 hours a week. The total hours claimed in the 12 month period is 550.

Stretched offer Hours attended	Summer (21 weeks)	Autumn (16 weeks)	Spring (13 weeks)	Total Hours in 12 months
Provider A (6 hours a week)	126	96	78	300
Provider B (5 hours a week)	105	80	65	250
Total Hours	231	176	143	550

Example 2: shows a spring funding claim where a child attends 2 providers for a total of 12 hours a week. The total hours claimed in the 12 month period is 600.

Stretched offer Hours attended	Summer (21 weeks)	Autumn (16 weeks)	Spring (13 weeks)	Total Hours in 12 months
Provider A (6 hours a week)	126	96	78	300
Provider B (5 hours a week)	126	96	78	300
Total Hours	252	192	156	600

As any child is only entitled to 570 hours the local authority will reduce the number of hours paid to bring the total back to 570. So in the spring both providers will only be paid for 63 hours rather than 78. The providers can each charge the parent for the unfunded 15 hours.

If you plan to allow parents to stretch their entitlement then we would recommend that you keep a running record of the total number of funded hours each child has claimed and add these together to monitor take up. You also need to note the number of hours that they attend with other providers. This information is printed on the summary which you are sent at the end of the funding period listing all the funded children.

What should I do if a child is absent?

Where a child attending has recurring absences or is absent for an extended period with no explanation, it is recommended that the provider makes every effort to contact the family and ascertain the reasons for non attendance.

A contact log should be kept, recording all attempts to make contact. Prolonged absences and failure to attend for agreed hours on agreed days should be notified as part of audit procedure.

Providers should make sure that their safeguarding policies include this procedure and that any concerns are reported to North Somerset on 01275 888 266.

When is a child eligible for a free place?

Children become eligible for the free entitlement at the start of the funding period after their third birthday.

They are eligible for up to 2 years before they reach compulsory school age, which is the school term after their fifth birthday. These dates are set by the Department for Education.

When is head count week?

Providers are funded for the number of hours that eligible children are registered to claim funding during Head Count week.

The Head Count week dates for 2012/2013 are:

Summer 2012 14 – 18 May 2012
Autumn 2012 1 – 5 October 2012
Spring 2013 14 - 18 January 2013