Early years pupil premium information for childcare providers

The early years pupil premium (EYPP) gives providers additional funding to support children from families receiving additional support accessing an early education entitlement place.

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

A child will be eligible for EYPP if they receive either:

• the universal 15 hours entitlement for 3 and 4 year-olds

or

• the 15 hours entitlement for families of 2-year-olds receiving additional support

or

• the 15 hours entitlement for children aged 2 years of working parents

or

• the 15 hours entitlement for children aged 9 months to 2 years old of working parents

The same criteria will also apply when the working family entitlements are extended to 30 hours from September 2025.

and 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 (this is assessed on up to 3 of the parent’s most recent universal credit assessment periods)
• they are currently being looked after by a local authority in England or Wales
• They have left care  in England or Wales through:
  • an adoption order
  • a special guardianship order
  • a child arrangements order

If a child qualifies for EYPP under more than one set of criteria, they will only be entitled to the funding once.

EYPP is only payable for the first 15 hours used by children taking up the eligible working parents entitlements for 3 and 4 year olds and 2 year olds and under.  EYPP is not payable on the additional 15 hours for these entitlements.

How to claim

Early years providers should identify potentially eligible children and have a key role in discussing the entitlement with parents  of all children aged 9 months up to 4 years taking up one of the entitlements especially with the parents of children who took up the early education entitlement for 2 year olds if their parents claim certain benefits as many of these children will attract EYPP when they turn 3.

To access the Free Early Education Entitlement, parents are required to complete the parental declaration form (MS Word, 552KB).

The information provided on this form should then be submitted via the Provider Portal below.

Provider portal

Eligibility checks

When we have received your information via the Provider Portal, we will consider whether the eligibility criteria have been met.

It is not necessary to submit the information for parents who know they are not eligible.

Once a child becomes eligible for EYPP that child will remain eligible while they are taking up the early years entitlement.

Provider portal

Funding for EYPP

All eligible early years providers will receive the national rate of £1.00 per hour per eligible child. Providers will therefore receive up to a maximum of £570.00 for each eligible child who takes up the full 570 hours of early education they are entitled to. Where a 3 and 4-year-old child i a 2-year-old child, or a child aged from 9 months to 2 years old is also eligible for the additional 15 hours entitlement for  eligible working parents, EYPP is paid on the first 15 hours only, up to a total of 570 hours in the year working parents. EYPP is paid on first 15 hours only, up to a total of 570 hours in the year.

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 early years provider to decide how to utilise the EYPP  to improve the quality of education for children. from families receiving additional support. 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 childcare provider. Providers may be required to 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.

Contacts

Childcare Providers please contact: 

Free Early Education Entitlement (FEEE) Team on 01270 685888.