Early education funding for three and four year olds

From the term following their third birthday, all children are entitled to receive early education funding.

Check the table below to see when funding will start:

Child's birthday	When child becomes eligible for early education funding
1 January to 31 March	Start of school term beginning on or following 1 April after their third birthday
1 April to 31 August	Start of school term beginning on or following 1 September after their third birthday
1 September to 31 December	Start of school term beginning on or following 1 January after their third birthday

The universal entitlement for 3 and 4 year olds is 570 hours a year (15 hours a week) of free early education over no fewer than 38 weeks a year.  This means that some weeks aren’t funded, so check the early education funding calendars to find out which these are.

Working parents who meet certain criteria could be entitled to 30 hours of free early education for their 3 and 4 year olds. The free early education stops when your child starts in reception class (or reaches compulsory school age).

Some children will be entitled to free childcare for two year olds.

Other help towards childcare costs include:

• tax free childcare
• tax credits
• universal credits for childcare
• childcare vouchers

You can check Childcare Choices' website to see which might be best for you.

Your child’s free early education can be taken in a school nursery, a private, voluntary or independent setting, a family hub, or with a childminder who is registered with Ofsted and the council to receive the funding.

Your child must be registered and attending at a childcare setting on headcount week to receive early education funding.

Find a registered early education provider

The Barnsley Virtual Family Hub can help you find a provider in your area. We can also help you with other advice about choosing childcare.

How to claim early education funding

The childcare provider you choose will ask you to complete a Parent Declaration Form before your child starts to attend for their free hours. They’ll need to see your child’s birth certificate to make sure they’re the right age to receive funding. The provider will then claim the funding on your behalf.

If you are entitled to the extended 30 hours funding, the childcare provider will ask for a code to confirm that you are eligible. You can find out how to apply for the code on our page about 30 hours of free early education.

How we pay early education funding

We’ll process the claim and pay the funding directly to your childcare provider to cover the cost of the education they have provided to your child. If your child attends a childcare setting for more than 15 hours a week (or 30 hours if you are eligible for the extended entitlement), the provider will charge you for those extra hours. If the cost of your child’s funded early years place is less than the funding we pay the provider, the setting can use the excess funding to support the education of eligible age children.

We pay funding to your child’s setting for a full term based on a headcount day each term. We will only adjust funding if your child moves to another setting after the headcount has been taken and before the adjustment week closes which is towards the end of the term. If you do wish to move your child’s provider you’ll need to check with the manager of the new setting whether there’s a funded place for your child for the rest of the term.

What we mean by headcount day

Headcount day is a date that we set every term, when children attending early years settings are counted. If the headcount day falls on a day that your child doesn’t normally attend the setting, they’ll still be counted, as long as they attend on their regular days during that week.

How you can use your Universal entitlement of 15 funded hours a week (or 570 hours per year)

Although there is no maximum number of providers specified in the statutory guidance, you can claim funding from providers at a maximum of 2 sites per day.  Your child can attend up to a maximum of 10 hours a day between 6am and 8pm, (there is no minimum session length). These are some of the different ways you can use the hours:

• three hours a day over five days a week
• five hours a day over three days a week
• 15 hours over two days a week
• Stretch the entitlement over more than 38 weeks per year by accessing fewer than 15 hours per week

How you can use your extended entitlement of 30 funded hours a week (or a total of 1140 hours per year)

Although there is no maximum number of providers specified in the statutory guidance, you can claim funding from providers at a maximum of 2 sites per day.  Your child can attend up to a maximum of 10 hours a day between 6am and 8pm, (there is no minimum session length).

You can also choose to ‘stretch’ the entitlement so instead of taking 30 hours per week over 38 weeks this could be stretched to 23.75 hours over 48 weeks (for example).

Check the Statutory Guidance on Early Years and Childcare for more information.

Helplines

Early Education Funding: 01226 774513
Families Information Service: 08000 345340

Frequently asked questions