10.1 The local authority provides an online Provider Portal for providers to claim early years' entitlement funding. The portal stores all previous claims and payments, providers should use this information at the beginning of each financial year to forecast their indicative budgets for the year ahead. The local authority will adjust budgets and/or payments made to providers, to reflect actual levels of participation based on the information submitted into the Provider Portal for 'actual' census returns.
10.2 The local authority provides an academic funding calendar to support providers with the submissions of claims. Funded hours are calculated on a pro rata basis across each of the academic terms, dependent upon when a child is eligible to start their funded place during the academic year.
10.3 The local authority collects information from providers for government and local purposes. It is a statutory duty to complete the Early Years Census within the publicised timescales and deadlines. Where providers do not submit their census returns, the early entitlement funding will be withheld. This includes a requirement to ensure the details held by the Families Information Service (FIS) are up-to-date.
10.4 The provider must tick the 'Present During Census' box on the Provider Portal for all children claimed for and in attendance during head count week, to ensure the local authority receives the correct amount of early years entitlement funding. Failure to do so may result in inaccurate, delayed or withheld/non-payment of funding and may result in a reduced increase to future funding rates.
10.5 The provider must maintain accurate financial and non-financial records relating to early years entitlement places and should give the local authority access on reasonable notice to all financial and non-financial records relating to places funded under the provider agreement, subject to confidentiality restrictions.
10.6 The provider operating for less than 38 weeks of the year, will be paid by the local authority accordingly. Parents/carers cannot access more than 15 or 30 hours per week. Parents/carers can access the remaining funded hours with another provider, to enable them to receive the full entitlement for their child.
10.7 Childminders taking a holiday during term time must offer alternative sessions to the parents/carers of funded children within the same term, for example during holiday periods or a reclaim of funding will be made for these weeks. Providers should be mindful of the impact on parents/carers if they choose to close and should be confident, they can still provide the total number of hours parents/carers agreed with the provider in their parental declaration.
10.8 Childminders cannot claim the early years' entitlements for children they are related to. The definition of a 'relative', in relation to a child, is for example, a grandparent, aunt, uncle, brother or sister, whether of full-blood, half-blood, by marriage or civil partnership. The term 'childcare' does not include care provided for a child by a relative of the child.
Early years provision of childcare is defined in Section 18 Childcare Act.
10.9 There is not a required notice period for children accessing funded only hours. The early years' entitlement is calculated in full weeks. Where a parent of a child accessing funded hours chooses to move settings mid-week, the existing provider will receive funding until the end of the week the child last attends. The child's new provider will start claiming the funded hours from the next full week the child attends.