Expansion of the Early Years Entitlements

Childcare Expansion Funding

As part of the government's transformative reforms to childcare, from September 2025 working parents will be able to access 30 hours of funded provision, for 38 weeks a year, from the term after their child is 9 months old to when they start school. As a Local Authority, Nottingham City Council has a statutory duty under The Childcare Act (2006) to ensure there are high quality, sufficient and sustainable childcare places.  The Department for Education (DfE) has allocated funding to local authorities to support the local delivery of these reforms. 

In Nottingham City, capital funding is being made available to schools and childcare providers through a grant allocation programme to support the creation of new or additional early years entitlements places.  The DfE estimates that there will be a shortfall of approximately 1,570 places for children under the age of 3, based on the number of registered places currently available and population estimates.  

Nottingham City Council received a capital allocation of £490,743 to support the expansion of provision for children under 3 with the introduction of the new early years entitlements and to support wraparound childcare for primary school aged children. National guidance suggested an approximate allocation split of 80% for Early Years Entitlements place creation and 20% for Wraparound Childcare place creation.  As such, Nottingham City has allocated £423,900 capital available to support the expansion of the early years entitlements for children under 3 in identified priority wards.

For full information on this funding opportunity please refer to:

• Application Guidance Notes (Updated November 2024)
• Application Form (Updated November 2024)

Completed applications and supporting documentation must be submitted by the deadline dates in the Guidance Notes to earlyyearsexpansion@nottinghamcity.gov.uk 

Potential applicants are invited to attend a free, online Briefing Session on applying for Childcare Expansion Funding.  For more information, please click here.

For any questions, please speak to your EYFS Support Worker in the first instance or email the above contact email.

Estimate Payments for the Autumn Term

If you have requested an additional estimate payment to cover the working parents of 9 - 23 months over the Autumn Term, with these children not being included in your current Autumn Term Estimate Payments, this one-off estimate payment was made at the end of September (ahead of the previously published end of October date) and will be for this new cohort of children only. This payment will be 75% of what the funded hours would be for the Autumn Term and payment for the actual hours of attendance for these children will be reconciled as part of your normal Balance Payment on 15^th December 2024. Please remember, that as per usual procedure, if your take-up is less than your estimate payment you may be invoiced at the end of the term. These children will then be included in your estimate payments going forward into the Spring Term 2025, as a seamless inclusion of this expanding entitlement into our existing funding processes. 

The early years entitlements aspects of these reforms are being phased in to allow providers time to prepare.  The key headlines around the expansion of the existing entitlements are;

• From April 2024, working parents of 2-year-olds will be able to access 15 hours childcare
• From September 2024, 15 hours childcare will be extended to all children from the age of 9 months and national wraparound support begins over 2 academic years to enable schools and local areas to set up wraparound childcare provision either side of the school day, so that parents of school-age children can access childcare in their local area from 8am – 6pm, with the expectation that by September 2026, most primary schools will be able to offer their own before and after school care.
• From September 2025, introduction of 30 hours for all working parents of children from 9 months to primary school age.

Checking Eligibility Codes for Working Parents of 9 - 23 months

With this entitlement having started in September 2024, existing and prospective parents will be bringing eligibility codes to you to validate.  We would encourage providers to validate these codes promptly on the portal, the same as all other working parent codes, before you offer the parent a funded place.  If you have any issues checking codes, please email earlyyears@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

Childcare Works HUB to support Providers

Childcare Works are supporting Providers to deliver the early years entitlements expansion and will be listening to what providers need, creating resources, tools and guidance in response.

These completed resources will be hosted in the HUB; a one-stop shop for all roll-out resources including good practice guidance, case studies, upcoming events and more to support providers.

Find out more at https://childcareworks.org.uk/