Early Years Free Entitlement Funding

Free Early Years Entitlement

The government funds up to 570 hours free nursery provision for every child from the term after their third birthday until the child starts in a reception class at an infant or primary school, or until the term in which they turn five, whichever's sooner. 

For those parent's wishing to find out more about funding you can refer them to the Childcare Choices website. For further details on funding and the application process for 9 months and two year olds places please refer them to our website - Childcare Funding.

In order to claim funding providers need to inform the Early Years Team so that they can get the provider set up on the system. Once that is in place the provider needs to get all parents wishing to claim their free early years  entitlement to complete a Parent Declaration Form (please see below). As a provider you will have access to the Provider Portal and from the information gained from the parent declaration form will be able to claim the necessary hours. 

There are a set number of weeks in each term, which are as follows:

Summer = 13 Weeks

Autumn = 13 Weeks

Spring = 12 Weeks

Please refer to the diary dates document below.

Your funding will be paid monthly and the amount of funding you receive each term, will be based on the information you provide via your headcount submissions. There are two headcount windows each term, an ‘Estimate’ and an ‘Actual’. Based on your Estimate headcount submission, 75% of your termly funding allocation will be split into three 25% monthly payments and then following your Actual headcount submission, you will receive the remaining 25% funding due for the term, which will include any adjustments made since the Estimate payment.

All providers claiming funding need to refer to Shropshire Council's Model Agreement below. There is also additional information from the Department for Education on Statutory Guidance, Operational Guidance and Model Agreement.

Expanded Hours

Some working parents may be entitled to an additional 570 hours free early years funding. For further details please refer to the Childcare Choices website

For those parents who are having problems accessing their account please refer to the document below - How parents can access the childcare service. If they are having issues with re-confirming their 30 hour code they can contact:

Customer Interaction Centre: 0300 123 4097 

Attendance Guidance for Early Years Providers

There are many reasons why we want young children to come regularly to their Early Years setting. As well as supporting their learning and development, we want to try to make sure that children are kept safe, their
wellbeing is promoted and they do not miss out on their entitlements and opportunities. If any child's attendance starts to cause concern, please refer to the attendance guidance below.