Early years pupil premium information for childcare providers

The early years pupil premium (EYPP) gives providers additional funding to support disadvantaged 3 and 4 year olds.

The extra funding must be used to improve the quality of early years education. This could include additional training for staff or supporting staff in working on specialised areas such as speech and language. The funding for several children could also be combined to further support their learning and development within your setting.

Eligibility

3 and 4 year olds will be eligible for EYPP if the child receives the universal 15 hours entitlement and they meet any of the following criteria:

Their family receives 1 of the following:

- Income Support
- income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
- income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- the guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
- Child Tax Credit (provided they’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
- Working Tax Credit run-on, which is paid for 4 weeks after they stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
- Universal Credit - household income must be less than £7,400 a year after tax not including any benefits the family receive
They have been in local-authority care for 1 day or more in England or Wales
They have left care in England or Wales through:
- an adoption order
- a special guardianship order
- a child arrangements order

How to claim

Early years providers should identify potentially eligible children and have a key role in discussing the entitlement with parents, especially with the parents of children who took up the early education entitlement for 2 year olds as many of these children will attract EYPP when they turn 3.

To access the Free Early Education Entitlement, parents are required to complete a parental declaration form.

Parental declaration 3 - 4 year olds (MS Word, 606KB)

All parents should be encouraged to complete the Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) registration form. The information provided on this form should be submitted online to Cheshire East Council where you consider that the eligibility criteria have been met. It is not necessary to submit the information online for parents who know they are not eligible.

Childcare providers are responsible for submitting applications for EYPP funding via the provider portal. Information provided by the parent in section 4 should be added when entering or updating a child's details.

Provider portal

Eligibility checks

Cheshire East Council will check the eligibility of children submitted online by providers. An eligibility check cannot be done more than a term in advance of the child taking up their 3 and 4 year old free entitlement, in case the family’s circumstances change.

Once a provider starts receiving EYPP funding in respect of a particular child, they will not lose it while the child is taking up the early years free entitlement.

Provider portal

Funding for EYPP

All eligible early years providers will receive the national rate of 60p per hour per eligible child. Providers will therefore receive up to a maximum of £342 for each eligible child who takes up the full 570 hours of state-funded early education they are entitled to.

The EYPP will be paid alongside existing funding for the early education entitlement, calculated and paid on a termly basis. The EYPP will be included with the balancing payment each term.

The termly advance payment in respect of the free entitlement will not include an amount for EYPP .

Using the EYPP effectively

It will be down to each individual provider to decide how to utilise the EYPP . Early years providers will be responsible for ensuring that this extra funding improves the quality of education for disadvantaged children. OfSTED inspections will report on whether providers spend their EYPP funding effectively.

Providers will be expected to evidence outcomes as a result of the funding allocated and this will be assessed as part of the Ofsted inspection. Providers will need to track progress of children so impact can be measured. EYPP will form part of the existing OfSTED inspection framework.

The annual Early Years Census will collect information on numbers of children receiving the EYPP at each setting. Settings may be required to make available/show evidence of spend in relation to EYPP .

Cheshire East EYPP tracking grid (MS Word, 49KB)

Early Education have produced online guidance on Early Years Pupil Premium Funding and practical tips on how to use it (PDF, 1.5MB)

Early Education have also devised a simple tool to help you record what you’ve spent and why you’ve spent it (MS Word, 62KB)

An EYPP leaflet for parents (PDF, 418KB) is available for printing and displaying on noticeboard or handing out to parents.