Funding information
Early years consultation outcomes
The Early years consultation feedback document (PDF, 177.9 KB) outlines the changes to funding arrangements for maintained schools, academies, free schools and early years providers from April 2025.
Funding dates
In accordance with the guide to the free entitlement, please find below funding dates:
Funding rates:
- 9 months funding rate - £13.21
- 2 year old funding rate - £9.40
- 3 and 4 year old funding rate - £6.28
Early years pupil premium national funding rates (9mths, 2, 3 and 4 year olds)
Early years pupil premium (EYPP) funding is designed to support providers and childminders to narrow the attainment gap between young children aged 9mths, 2, 3 and 4, who's families meet the eligibility criteria. The funding is paid directly to the providers which is linked to the entitlement funding claimed hours. The annual value for a 15-hour place over a full year is £570, £1:00 per hour per eligible child.
DAF national funding rates (9mths, 2, 3 and 4 year olds)
The national funding rate for DAF will be £938 per eligible child per year.
Estimated hours
When the estimates are open, log into the Provider Portal and submit your estimates. Failing to do so, will result in your estimate payment being delayed.
Please note
Any child (2yr/3-4yr old) who is attending your provision and is also attending a school nursery (including academies) will be claiming the 3 and 4 year old Free Entitlement (Universal Funded Hours) at that setting and will therefore be unable to claim those funded hours at your provision. It is important to clarify with the parent the total funded hours that the child is entitled to (15hrs Terrific Two/15hrs Universal/15hrs Extended) and deduct the funded hours claimed at the school setting from their overall funded entitlement to determine the remaining available funded hours that can be claimed at your setting.
The length of each Funding Period as specified by the 'Start and End Dates' do not necessarily match with the actual number of funded weeks within a Funding Period. However, providers can choose their start and end dates within the specified dates, as long as, in total they are open for the specified Termly funded weeks.
In accordance with the Guide to the Free Entitlement, providers should only operate outside the above number of funded weeks within each Funding Period with the express written agreement of the Early Years' Team, which must be obtained prior to any changes being advised to parents. If agreement is given by the Early Years' Team and this results in a setting offering less than 38 weeks 'Free Entitlement, 30 hours or Terrific Twos', providers must ensure that they give parents adequate notice that their child will be receiving less than their full entitlement and that this shortfall cannot be made up later.
School term dates
Please note that the academic school year runs at 39 weeks, where as the PVI, Voluntary Sector runs at 38 weeks. This enables settings to have one week's flexibility in the autumn term to either start or finish one week early.
View school term dates.
Summer born children - advice for parents
Guidance for parents on requesting a delayed school start for children born in the summer.
Deferral into reception
Where a parent or carer chooses to defer or delay their child's entry to school, as long as they remain within a nursery provision, the child remains entitled to a funded early education place of 15 hours a week for 38 weeks of the year, until they are admitted to school (the term following their fifth birthday).
Once the child reaches compulsory school age and is admitted into a full time reception place in a state-funded school or independent school, parents/carers cannot claim funded childcare for 3 to 4 year old early years education including the 30 hours for the child.
Parents/carers must be made fully aware that they need to make a separate application for a reception place as part of the main admissions round (unless the request was made too late for this to be possible).
Children who are deferred will not be given any priority on the basis that the child is being admitted out of their normal age group.
Further funding information
- Free Childcare Funding Entitlement Agreement -1 April 2025 - 31 March 2026
- Enfield Council’s Funding Entitlement (FE) Guidance - April 2025 (PDF, 284.67 KB)
- Parental declaration entitlement form (DOCX, 48.04 KB)
- Early Years entitlements operational guidance (PDF)
- Provider guidance and resources - Childcare Choices
- Early education and childcare - GOV.UK – Chargeable extras template
30 hours for providers
This page is dedicated for providers to get up to date information on the 30 hours entitlement.
Application deadline dates
| Term | If child turns 3 between or before | Parent must apply before |
|---|---|---|
| Autumn | 1 April to 31 August | 31 August |
| Spring | 1 September to 31 December | 31 December |
| Summer | 1 January to 31 March | 31 March |
To learn how to validate codes, please check section 4.3 on page 11 of the Provider Portal Funding User Guide 2021 (PDF, 1108.65 KB).
Find information on the 30 hour entitlement.
To learn how to add 30 hours actuals to the Provider Portal, please watch the helpful Synergy Provider Portal video.
Find out about funding or get support with marketing.
For more information about childcare offers, visit Childcare Choices - information for childcare providers.
Early years pupil premium
The Early years pupil premium (EYPP) funding is designed to support providers and childminders to narrow the attainment gap between young children aged 9 months 2, 3 and 4 year olds, whose families meet the eligibility criteria. The funding is paid directly to the providers which is linked to the entitlement funding claimed hours. The annual value for a 15-hour place over a full year is £570, £1:00 per hour per eligible child.
Any provider registered to offer the entitlement funded can claim the EYPP. Parents/carers must provide their consent to their details being verified by the LA on the parental declaration form. EYPP payments are made as part of the normal cycle of early years funding payments. Equipment and resources remain the property of the childcare provider.
EYPP funding can be used for:
- additional staff to provide additional support
- pool funding with other PVI settings
- specific external intervention/support/advice
- offering and further developing life experiences (for example, trips and visitors)
- to provide further support to the family (for example, resources which can be loaned and used in the home learning environment)
- purchasing resources to support learning and development
- training/professional development to staff
- providing support to children when approaching the time when they transition to school
- providing home visits in some circumstances (for example, where a deeper understanding of the child’s home life may help them settle at the childcare setting)
EYPP funding cannot be used for furniture or storage.
Early Years Pupil Premium | EEF
You should make sure that disadvantaged children are at the heart of your EYPP strategy and spending choices. Evidence tells us that high-quality education and care is important for all children, but the benefits for disadvantaged children are greater. When you spend your funding on effective professional development and keep improving the quality of practice, you are addressing a top priority for EYPP spending.
If you spend your EYPP solely on buying toys or resources, you are unlikely to improve outcomes for disadvantaged children. Instead, it is what educators do that makes the biggest difference.
Sometimes, buying specific resources might help you to put an approach into action. However, you should do this alongside providing training and support for educators.
For example, if you select the interactive reading approach to improve children’s early language development, you might use your EYPP to buy:
- Effective professional development and ongoing coaching to help educators put the approach into action.
- High-quality books to support educators as they deliver the approach.
EYPP should be used to improve the life chances of all of your socio-economically disadvantaged children, by supporting their strengths and meeting needs: from those who are developing well, to those who might need extra help.
You do not need to write detailed and lengthy documents and gather lots of ‘data’ for your EYPP strategy. For example, you can check the impact of your strategy by observing changes to educators' practice ‘on the ground’.
- Are educators using the approaches you have discussed to improve the quality of their practice?
- Do you observe high-quality interactions throughout the day?
- Do you notice those interactions inside and outdoors, whilst children are learning and playing, and also during daily routines?
- Are educators consistently providing extra support and teaching for the children who need it?
- How are the children responding?
Over time, you might consider using an evidence-informed screening tool for tracking children’s progress as part of your strategy.
Children can thoroughly enjoy ‘one-off’ events such as trips out and special visitors.
However, when you take a balanced approach to spending your EYPP, you are likely to focus on developing the quality of everyday practice. Disadvantaged children will particularly benefit from this approach: it should be a priority in your spending choices.
Two co-childminders purchase a licence for an online language screening tool, and training for themselves and their assistants to use it effectively.
Useful documents and links on EYPP
Special Educational Needs Inclusion Funding (SENIF)
The Early Years Inclusion Support is for children aged between 9 months and 4-years old who are taking up any number of hours of the funding entitlement. Children with a final Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP) and in receipt of contingency funding are not eligible to access SENIF.
The funding is targeted at children with lower level or emerging SEN. Children with more complex needs and those in receipt of an EHCP continue to be eligible to receive funding via the high needs block.
Funding Options
The level of funding for the Spring term 2025 will continue to be based on the individual hours the child is accessing at the provision. However, from the Summer term 2025 onwards low or emerging communication and language needs cannot be funded via SENIF, in line with the upcoming changes to be issued by the DfE. Children with these identified needs will instead access Early Talk Boost Intervention. This is a DfE recommended Speech and Language programme which will be funded by the Family Hub for 2025 - 2026 including training, resources, progress tracking of development and monitoring of the intervention.
SENIF Application and Requirements
An online application form must be submitted by the deadline dates. SENIF funding will be passported for one term, i.e. the term in which the application was submitted, or from the child’s start date within that term.
- SENIF Application Form for 9 months - 4 years olds (Nursery age children only)
- SENIF Review Form for 9 months - 4 years olds (Nursery age children only)
- SENIF Guidance April 2025
To download a copy of the Parent Consent Form please use the link below:
Please see below panel dates and deadlines for application submissions.
| Deadline for applications | Panel Date |
|---|---|
| Wednesday 30 April 2025 | Wednesday 7 May 2025 |
| Autumn term 2025 - TBC | TBC |
| Spring term 2026 - TBC | TBC |
Funding Changes from Summer Term – April 2025. The following changes have been made as the DfE states that the Local authority should not match fund hours for 1-1 support.
- Band A (child accessing 15 hours funding entitlement) Up to 7.5 hours per child, per funding block. This is for individual children with low-level special educational needs who require a short-term intervention (3 terms funding only) to support their progress along the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).
- Band B (child accessing 30 hours funding entitlement) Up to 15 per child, per funding block. This is for individual children with low-level special educational needs who require a short-term intervention (3 terms funding only) to support their progress along the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
Early years strategy
Early years intervention and support strategy
Make sure you're up to date with the early years intervention and support strategy (PDF, 306.2 KB).
Disability access fund
If a funded child aged from 9 months to 4 years is in receipt of disability living allowance, your setting can claim a payment of £938 (from 1 April 2025) to support inclusion.
You will require a copy of the letter, confirming disability living allowance, to access the fund. Please attach a copy of the letter onto the provider portal via the documents tab.
Applications must be submitted via the Disability Access Fund - Application Form (office.com)
Wraparound Provision
The Labour Government have confirmed that they will continue to support the childcare and wraparound agenda. From Sept 2024, 15 hours (funding entitlement) will be available to eligible working parents of 9-month babies to 4 year olds, and from Sept 2025, this will increase to 30 hours (funding entitlement) and will be available to eligible working parents of 9-month olds to 4 year olds. The wraparound agenda will continue to support parents and carers of primary school-aged children, and children up to the age of 14 years with additional needs, to access wraparound care if needed (term time childcare in from 8am-6pm).
The LBE are required to deliver this primary objective, by increasing the number of wraparound places available between 8am and 6pm for primary school-aged children, and to ensure that there are sufficient childcare places for parents with babies aged 9 months to 5-year-olds by September 2025.
The grant is available through an application process to support the delivery of the government’s commitments as detailed above. The priority for this grant is to increase sufficiency in areas within Enfield that have been identified as having insufficient childcare places for 2025. To apply please complete the online application form.
All application forms must be submitted within the deadline dates:
- 4 October 2024 – 1st round
- 15 November 2024 – 2nd round
- 13 December 2024 – 3rd round
There will be an initial pre-panel criteria that will be applied to all applications before the Grant panel review applications against the criteria matrix. Applications will initially be assessed for:
- track record with Ofsted / Independent Schools Inspectorate of Met, Good or Outstanding
- clear evidence that the proposed project will be completed by 31 August 2025
- sufficiency needs, applications will be scored on the number of increasing spaces and value for money. Information regarding the criteria for this is set out in the attached.
If you have any questions please contact Christiana Kromidias, Early Years Manager and Wraparound lead at if@enfield.gov.uk