EARLY EDUCATION FUNDING

Guidance on completing and submitting all the necessary forms for the Summer Term 2014

Electronic versions of all forms are available for download from the EYFS Resource tab on CPD Online, after you log in via the following link:

Please check before calling us as answers to manyFAQ’s can be found in this guide.

Some of the main questions we get relate to the below headings:

Bookstart Treasure Chests – page 20

Deadline for submission of claim forms for this term – page 2

Eligible dates of birth for this term – page 3

Eligible dates of birth for next term – last page

Funded hours – page 3

Funded Weeks – see the last page of this guide

Headcount day this term – page 2

Headcount day for next term – last page

Hourly rate bands – page 18

SEN codes – page 9

SEYF1 Parent/Carer Authorisation Form – page 4

2 Year Old Funding - Eligibility(use new SEYF1a – in lieu of application form) – page 6

2 Year Old Funding – how to check parent’s benefits– page 7

SEYF2a form completion – page 11

SEYF4 Change in Qualification levels for 3 and 4 year old funding – page 13

Swings and Roundabouts and SEYF2a form – page 3

  1. All forms must be completed fully, as set out in this guidance. Incorrect and incomplete forms will delay your payment.
  2. We would encourage you to submit the Early Education Funding Claim Forms (SEYF2 and SEYF3) electronically as this isa more secure method. Beforee-mailing your claim please contactfor instructions on how to do this securely if you have not done this before or reply via the attachment to the second e-mail which was sent when you were set up if you have. You may also sign on to the CISCO web page directly using the following link if you have already registered.

When submitted electronically you willNOT NEED TO SEND A HARD COPY of anyof the claim forms by post.

From March 2013 we have set up an automated response to any emails received into the inbox. The response will confirm the email has been received into the inbox. You should receive this response straight away. If you do not receive a response within 30 minutes please contact us on 01473 264680. Once we have received your claim forms we will come back to you within 4 working days if you haven’t submitted all the necessary forms or we can see if any of the information is missing or incorrect.

The electronic template claim forms will highlight any missing information or errors on your claim forms in RED. Please ensure you resolve any issues before submission.

NOTE - ONCE A CLAIM IS SUBMITTED NO ADDITIONS CAN BE MADE FOR THE HEADCOUNT DAY(Please check the claim carefully prior to sending so that you have included all the funded children on the claim form).

  1. Submit The Early Education Funding Claim forms (SEYF2) the Early Education Funding Summary (SEYF3) AND the Termly Sufficiency Survey as soon as possible after ‘headcount day’ each term.
  2. Please complete all forms in ink if to be completed offline and then scanned ready to e-mail to us securely.
  3. The headcount date for the SummerTerm 2014 is Thursday 1stMay 2014.
  4. The forms must arrive by Friday 16th May 2014.We will aim to get the balance of the fundingcredited to your bank account within 10 working days of receipt of the correctly fully completed funding claim forms.
  5. Funding Claim Forms received after the deadline.

Any Funding Claim Forms received after 16th May 2014claims deadline will be paid on the following basis:

A £20 administration fee will be charged.This will be deducted from the final payment.

Funding will only be paid from the day the late claim is received.

8.Adjustments for children leaving or joining a provider during the term (Swings and Roundabouts)

Following consultation with providers in 1999, it was agreed that there would be no funding adjustment for children who leave or join a provider after the count date in each term. You will be expected to accept a child for a free place part way through a term (if you have space available), but will not be able to claim for that child until the count day in the following term(see point 9, below, for the new exception to this rule). Funding cannot be backdated to the previous term. Conversely, you will not be expected to give up funding for children who leave after count day. It was agreed that this system was preferable, as it was simple to administer and gave providers certainty of income term by term, which facilitated effective planning. This arrangement is known as “Swings and Roundabouts”

The funding will not follow the child from one provider to another. Please ensure parents/carers are made aware of this when planning their early education arrangements each term.

  1. If a NEWchild starts after headcount day and is shown not to have claimed any free early education entitlementin Suffolkduring the same term then we will fund the place from the date the child starts (in full weeks only). An additional claim will have to be submitted on the NEW SEYF2a form(which will be available on CPD online after half term). Please enter the number of weeks, to the nearest full week, that you are claiming for that child. Please include a copy of both sides of the SEYF1 for each child on these claims (and SEYF1b as applicable for a 2 year old) as childrenmay not be on the system already. All these additional payments will be made in the last week of the term in which they apply.
  2. If you have no eligible children, you must send us a “NIL RETURN” to confirm this.
  3. The funding is payable for the following children in the SummerTerm 2014

3 and 4 year olds - children born between 1stApril 2009 and 31stMarch 2011

2 year olds who meet the eligibility criteria – children born between 1stApril 2011 and 31st March 2012

  1. Funded hours

Bank holidays and PD days should be treated as non funded days. If these days cannot be offered as an extra day during that term we would expect you to offer the additional day(s) in another term.

Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities Early Education and ChildcareSeptember 2013

The LIMITS are:

No session longer than 10 hours.

No session shorter than 2.5 hours.

Not before 7am or after 7pm

Providers who charge for any goods or services, for example meals, optional extras or additional hours of provision outside of the place, must not do so as a condition of children accessing their place.

Providers cannot levy any charge in respect of the free entitlement, it must be provided free at the point of delivery. Providers cannot deduct the amount of the funding from parents/carers invoices, as the funding will vary from provider to provider depending on staff qualification etc. The rate we pay you covers the hours of the free entitlement and should not appear on any statement or invoiceto the parents/carers.

13.Additional services

Providers can charge for additional services. The level of such fees is a private matter for agreement between the provider and the parent/carer. However, parents/carers should not be required or expected to take up additional services in order to access a free place (e.g. uniform, lunch, trips, extra hours). Above all, arrangements for charging for additional services should be clear and transparent.

It is up to you as the provider to decide how you offer the free entitlement to parents/carers. You can set your own policy on this. We do not require you to change your policy if it currently works for you and the parents/carers. There is no longer a requirement to have a break for lunch.

Here are some examples of how providers have offered 15 funded hours per week:

  • 3 hours each day for 5 days a week for 38 weeks
  • 5 hours a day for 3 days a week for 38 weeks
  • 10 hours in one day and 5 hours on a second day for 38 weeks
  • Stretched Offer – there is no requirement to provide the funded hours within the 38 weeks that are paid each financial year. Should a parent/carer require a place for less than 15 hours each week then these may be used as part of a stretched offer over a longer period, to the maximum hours claimed for the term. We encourage providers to be as flexible as possible to try and meet the parents/carers requirements, e.g. 15 hours per week over 13 weeks equals 195 hours. This could be provided as 13 hours per week over 15 weeks if parent/carer and provider were in agreement to this option.

Privacy Notice

An electronic version of this form along with translated copies can be downloaded from:

SEYF1PARENT/CARER (DECLARATION & FUNDING) AUTHORISATION FORM.

THE SEYF1 NEEDS TO BE COMPLETED BY THE PARENT/CARER OF ANY ELIGIBLE FUNDED 2 YEAR OLD AND ALL FUNDED 3 AND 4 YEAR OLDS

INCLUDES DFE EXTENDED ETHNICITY CODE LIST ON A SEPARATE SHEET FOR PARENTS / CARERS.

  1. The purpose of the form is to:
  • Make it clear to the parents/carers that they are authorising your provision to claim for a number of hours of their free entitlement from Suffolk County Council, on their behalf.
  • Confirm the number of hours from their entitlement that they are claiming with your provision.
  • Confirm any stretched funding offer that may have been agreed with you
  • Confirm the number of hours from their entitlement that they are claiming with any other provider (including school nurseries).
  • Confirm the total number of funded hours that their child will be receiving in that term and that the child will not be receiving more than 15 hours a week. The Parent/Carer must complete the front of the Authorisation Form and you must complete the reverse.
  1. Maintained school nurseries shouldalso be using the Parent / Carer (DeclarationFunding) Authorisation Form from the Autumn Term 2010.
  2. CHILD’S DETAILS
  • Check that the parent/carer has completed all the boxes.
  • Evidence of date of birth. You need to see evidence of this only once, when the child is firstregistered at the provider. Good practice is to ask the parent/carer to provide a photocopy alongside the original evidence. Keep the copies for your records.
  • Any known name changes to the original birth certificate must be accompanied by a copy of the deed poll, adoption certificate or new birth certificate for us to amend the child’s details on the database. Please send any copies of these along with your funding claim forms.

Where it is not possible to keep a copy of the birth certificate or other evidence seen, please make sure you record the appropriate reference number from the original document in the space provided on the Parent/Carer Authorisation Form. The number to record from a birth certificate has two or three letters followed by six numbers and is already pre printed on the certificate.

  1. FUNDED HOURS-Check that the parent/carer has completed all the boxes.

Where a parent/carer indicates that a child is attending another provider, wherever possible, please contact the other provider to check, so that we can make sure that a child only accesses 15 funded hours a week.

  1. Check that the parent/carer has signed prior to or on headcount day.

Once a parent/carer has signed the authorisation form it must not be altered. (If a parent/carer wishes to change the number of hours to be claimed, before headcount day, a new form must be completed).

  1. Once you are confident that you have all the necessary information from the parent/carer, complete and sign the reverse.
  2. Boxes for indicating the eligibility criteria for funded 2 year olds. Please tick the box/boxes that apply:

  1. Eligibility Criteria - (FOR 2 YEAR OLD FUNDING ONLY)
/ Please tick all boxes that apply
ECO – Economic criteria
LAA – Looked after or adopted from care
HSD – not to be used until Sept 2014 / n/a
OTH – Other (including CiN, CP)

Eligibility criteria codes can be found on the completed form SEYF1a for that child or on a 2 year old application form completed by a Family Information Outreach Co-ordinator (FIOC).

For children with status CP / CiN / LAC a completed application form must be received from a FIOC to support the claim.

In the Spring Term 2014 we introduced a new parent/carer authorisation form (PAF). In future terms if all the information on the PAF form remains the same the parent/carer can resign an existing PAF for a further 2 terms. It is the providers responsibility to ensure when asking parent/carers to resign an existing form that the parent/carer has reviewed all the information on the form and confirms it all remains the same. If a parent/carer requests different hours, attends hours at another setting or wishes to change any of their child’s details then they will have to complete a new PAF.

  1. If a completed parent/carer authorisation form is not available when requested by Suffolk County Council, you will have to pay back any funding claimed for that child.
  2. Please ensure where a parent authorisation form is resigned in a future term the form is kept with the current terms funding paperwork as this will be required for audit.
  3. Parent/carer authorisation forms must be retained by providers in evidence of claims for 7 years, as these are subject to audit.
  4. Original Parent/Carer Authorisation Forms should be retained by providers. If you are a provider near the Suffolk border or are aware of any new children attending your provision who may not be registered with a GP in Suffolk. Please send in a copy of the SEYF 1 and DOB evidence with your funding forms, as we will require copies to add any new children to our database.
  5. SEYF1a - Complete for eligible funded 2 Year Olds

(Onlyif you do not have a completed application form)

Only complete this form once. Eligible 2 years olds continue to be funded until they become Free at 3.

This form must be attached to the SEYF1 (Parent Authorisation Form) to which it relates.

Eligibility for two year old funding

Guidance for childcare providers

Who is eligible to receive funded childcare for two year olds?

Families in receipt of:

  • Income Support
  • Income-based Jobseekers Allowance
  • Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
  • Child Tax Credit, provided they are not entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an

annual income (as assessed by HM Revenue & Customs) that does not exceed

£16,190

  • The guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
  • Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
  • Working Tax Credit during the 4 week period immediately after their employment

finishes or after they start to work less than 16 hours a week

A child who has left care through:

  • Special Guardianship Order (SGO)
  • Adoption
  • Residence Order (RO)

A child who is subject to:

  • Child Protection (CP)
  • Child in Need (CIN) plan(due to safeguarding)
  • Is a Looked After Child (LAC)

Please note: For children eligible due to their CP, CIN or LAC status you will be sent a completed application form by the Families Information Outreach Coordinators (FIOCs).

When can a two year old child start 15 hours of funded childcare?

The earliest a child will be eligible is the term after their 2nd birthday

If a child’s date of birth falls between the dates shown below / He or she can have funded childcare from the beginning of:
1st January and 31st March / Summer Term (April)
1st April and 31st August / Autumn Term (September)
1st Sept and 31st Dec / Spring Term (January)

How many weeks does the funding cover?

The offer is 15 hours per week for 38 weeks (term time) of the year.

Childcare providers may be able to offer parents a pattern of hours which “stretch” their child’s entitlement by taking fewer free hours a week over more weeks of the year.

Proof of eligibility

For Audit purposes your setting must have either:

A fully completed 2 Year Funding Application form, which will be sent to you by a FIOC (eligibility will have been checked)

OR

You must:

  • Photocopy the proof (see ‘Proof of Benefits’ document)
  • Complete form SEYF1A
  • Keep the photocopy of proof and SEYF1A for audit purposes

Please note:

SEYF1A only needs to be completed ONCE.

Eligibility continues even if the family or child’s circumstances change.

SEYF1 PAF also needs to be completed.

Funded childcare can start at the beginning of the term after the child’s 2nd birthday.

For further information please see Frequently Asked Questions or contact:

Sophie Morling 01473 260109

Sarah Jones 01473 264435