FEEE information for providers

Eligible working families can apply for 30 hours of childcare to use from the period after their child turns 9 months until they reach school age.

Eligible children are entitled to receive up to 1,140 hours a year over no fewer than 38 weeks (term time). This equates to 30 hours a week for 38 weeks of the year.

Children may stretch their entitlement over more than 38 weeks to take into account school holiday periods. This means taking fewer hours per week, subject to a maximum of 1,140 hours a year.

Parents will need to apply online for this funding via HMRC: Free Childcare for Working Parents: Apply for free childcare - GOV.UK.

Once a parent has successfully completed an eligibility check via HMRC, they will be given a Department of Education Reference Number (DERN) which you will need to validate via the Provider Portal. Please note that parents will need to reconfirm their eligibility every 3 months to ensure that the funding continues (please note that in some cases reconfirmation can be requested earlier than 3 months, as this will depend on when a parent reconfirms their Tax-Free Childcare. Therefore, it is always best to refer to the validity end date of the working parent entitlement code to see when reconfirmation needs to occur).

If parents are having difficulty completing an eligibility check or have a query about the result, they should contact HMRC on 0300 123 4097.

For more information, please visit Best Start in Life

If a parent / carer lives and works in England they may be entitled to 30 hours funded childcare support from the period after their child turns 9 months old, until they start school.

They can usually get funded childcare for working parents if they (and their partner, if they have one) are:

• in work or starting a new job
• on sick leave or annual leave
• on shared parental, maternity, paternity or adoption leave

The amount of funded childcare they can get depends on:

• their child’s age and circumstances
• their income (and their partner’s income, if they have one)
• their immigration status

If they are not eligible for the working parent offer, they will still receive the 15 hour entitlement for all 3 and 4-year olds from the period after their child turns 3 until they start school, irrespective of income level, benefit status, or family circumstances.

If they or their child receive some additional forms of support, they may be eligible for 15 hours early learning for 2-year olds under a separate scheme. If they are eligible, they should still apply for the working parent entitlement, but they will receive 15 hours from each scheme (up to a maximum of 30 hours in total).

Parent / carer earnings

Over the next 3 months the parent and their partner (if they have one) must each expect to earn at least:

• £2,539.68 before tax if they’re aged 21 or over (equivalent to £195.36 per week)
• £2,080 before tax if they’re aged 18 to 20 (equivalent to £160 per week)
• £1,570.40 before tax if they’re under 18 or an apprentice (equivalent to £120.80 per week)

This is equivalent to the National Minimum Wage or Living Wage for 16 hours a week, on average.

Parents and carers can earn up to £100,000 adjusted net income per year and be eligible. If they or their partner have an expected adjusted net income over £100,000 in the current tax year, they will not be eligible.

They can use an average of how much they expect to earn over the current tax year if:

• they work throughout the year but do not get paid regularly
• they’re self-employed and do not expect to earn enough in the next 3 months

If they have a partner who lives with them, they must also earn between these two amounts.

If they’re self-employed and started their business less than 12 months ago, they can earn less and still be eligible for funded childcare for working parents.

If they have more than one job, they can use their total earnings to work out if they meet the threshold. This includes:

• earnings from any employment
• earnings from any self-employment

If they’re both employed and self-employed, they can use just their self-employment income if this would make them eligible. For example, if they expect their average self-employed earnings over the tax year to be more than they’ll get over the next 3 months as an employee.

Certain types of income will not count towards the minimum amount they must earn to be eligible. These include:

• dividends
• interest
• income from investing in property
• pension payments

How it works with maternity, paternity, shared parental or adoption leave

If the parent is on some form of parental leave and applying for an older child, who is not the subject of the parental leave, they can apply online at GOV.UK.

If they are applying for the child that is the subject of the parental leave, they can also apply online but the date that they return to work from parental leave will affect when they can take up the childcare.

If one parent is starting or returning to work, while the other parent remains on parental leave until a later date, they will only be eligible to apply once both parents have either returned to work or have a start or return to work date within one month of the start of period (that is, 30 September, 31 January or 30 April).

If they are on paid annual leave and receiving a salary as normal, this counts as having returned to work for the purposes of eligibility for the working parent entitlement.

Starting a new job

Parents who are planning to start new work can also apply online.

If they are starting work more than one month after the start of the period, they will be able to apply to start using the entitlements from the start of the following period.

Parent’s immigration status

To be eligible for funded childcare for working parents, the parent (and their partner if they have one and if they live with them) must have a National Insurance number.

The person who applies must also have at least one of the following:

• British or Irish citizenship
• settled or pre-settled status, or they have applied and are waiting for a decision
• permission to access public funds - their UK residence card will tell them if they cannot do this

If they’re not currently working

They may still be eligible if their partner is working, and they are on carer’s leave or if they get any of the following: 

• Incapacity Benefit
• Severe Disablement Allowance
• Carer’s Allowance
• Limited Capability for Work Benefit
• contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance

This can be done online by the parent and carer directly, via apply for Free Childcare for Working Parents.

Eligible children from the age of 9 months until they go to school can claim up to 30 hours FEEE per week for up to 38 weeks a year (term time), totalling a maximum of 1,140 hours per academic year. This is known as the expanded offer (once a child becomes eligible for the 3- and 4-year funding, it known as the extended offer).

If a parent wishes to take less hours a week and stretch their hours over more than 38 weeks, using some hours in the holiday weeks, this is known as a stretched offer. This is something you can implement if you wish but not something we insist you support.

Leicestershire children accessing the funding outside of Leicestershire will be paid by the Local Authority they take up their early years place in. Likewise, Leicestershire Local Authority will fund children taking up their place with Leicestershire Childcare Providers who live out of county.

A stretched offer is when a parent wishes to take less than their 30 hours a week and use some of their entitlement in the school holiday periods. A parent / carer cannot insist that a provider offers this opportunity, but if you can accommodate a parents / carers request and it will benefit the child we would definitely recommend you doing so.

If you require further advice on how to administer a stretched offer, please contact the FEEE team on 0116 305 5788 or email: feee@leics.gov.uk.

The DfE’s Statutory Guidance states:

A1.32 Government funding is intended to deliver 15 or 30 hours a week of free, high quality, flexible childcare. The 15 or 30 hours must be able to be accessed free of charge to parents. There must not be any mandatory charges for parents in relation to the free hours. Government funding is not intended to cover the costs of meals, other consumables, additional hours or additional services.

A1.39 In all cases, these chargeable extras must not be a condition of taking up a free place. All parents, including disadvantaged families, must have fair access to a free place. A local authority should intervene if a provider seeks to make additional hours, optional services or optional consumables a mandatory condition of taking up a free place.

When the local authority receives a parental concern / complaint re their providers FEEE offer and additional charges we must investigate if they are adhering to the statutory guidance.  When looking at the information, we must consider the following:

• Does the parent / carer have a choice? i.e. do you offer any free places? If you charge for food / consumables etc, do you have an opt-out policy?
• Is your offer completely clear and transparent? Information needs to be transparent, so that a parent / carer knows what they will be expected to pay for if there are any charges. If you are limiting the places you offer, this needs to be clearly stated along with your policy of allocation. You need to state how the FEEE hours are offered, the weeks you are open, if the funding can be used on a term time or stretched basis and any additional charges are itemised.
• Are your invoices clear and itemised? Invoices need to show – FEEE hours as free / any charges for additional hours / costs for meals, including breakfast, lunch, tea and snacks / list of consumables and extra-curricular activities along with charges.
  You can charge parents / carers for consumables / extra-curricular activities that are not directly related or unnecessary for the effective delivery of the Early Years Foundation Stage, such as nappies, suncream, bespoke lessons such as yoga, or forest schools.
  You cannot charge for items that are needed to cover the basic childcare element of the EYFS, i.e. toilet rolls, soap, electricity, gas etc.
• Are you only charging for items you are allowed to? You can charge for food / extra-curricular activities / consumables / additional hours. For example, you are not allowed to charge for registration fees on purely funded hours, utilities, staffing, EYFS training requirements, such as first aid or safeguarding. The FEEE funding is to cover the basic childcare element of the EYFS.
• Is the provider topping up? Topping up is the base rate plus what you charge to get to your desired rate.

• no session to be longer than 10 hours
• no minimum session length (subject to the requirements of registration on the Ofsted Early Years Register)
• not before 6am or after 8pm
• a maximum of 2 sites in a single day

Yes, if a child meets the EYPP eligibility criteria, they will receive a maximum of 570 hours per year, broken down into 15 hours per week over 38 weeks of the year.

Once a child takes up a funded place they cannot claim child tax credits for childcare that they are getting through the entitlement. Parents should contact HMRC for advice.

Yes, you can claim the FEEE funding if you do not yet have an Ofsted grade.

A copy of each child’s birth certificate / passport or medical card and a signed / dated Parental Statement of Undertaking (PSOU) which clearly states how many hours the parent / carer wants you to claim for. A template is available on the main FEEE page.

You will also need to ensure you collect the working parent entitlement code, so that you can validate it in the Provider Portal prior to claiming the funding to ensure it is valid for the period in which you want to claim. To be able to check a child’s eligibility for Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP), you will require the parent's surname, NI number and date of birth – this can be recorded on the child’s PSOU.

No – please keep the copies securely, in line with your data protection policy.

At the beginning of each period, you will be able to access an online headcount, which asks you to detail all eligible children attending your provision. There will be 3 different headcounts available:

• Children aged 9 months to 2 years
• Children aged 2 years
• Children aged 3 and 4 years

You will receive an email notifying you when the task has opened and when it will be closing. For help and support on how to complete these tasks, please refer to our dedicated Early Years Provider page where you will find useful guides and videos available. You can refer to the upcoming headcount and payment dates in our FEEE calendar which can be found on our main FEEE page.

You must ensure that you submit your headcount task by the deadline date in order to receive any funding. Where children join your setting or change their hours after you have submitted the headcount task, you should complete the subsequent adjustment task.

A maximum of 10 hours can be claimed for in one day. There is no minimum claim.

Early education funding cannot be claimed by, or spent on, childminders providing childcare for their own child or a related child, by blood or marriage. This includes a child’s parent, (including stepparent or foster parent), or if they are blood relation to the child such as grandparent, aunt / uncle, sibling or cousin.

The total funding you receive for 9-months to 2-year-old funding is made up of two parts

• a base rate,
• the funding received through the deprivation supplement.

This is paid as a lump sum and will reflect the amount paid per child, per hour based on the child’s address.

An estimate payment at the beginning or prior to the start of the term and a final payment just after half term.

The estimate payment is based on an estimated number of hours the provider submits to the local authority. Providers will be paid 60% of these estimated hours at the beginning of each period.

Once the Headcount data is collected, the final payment is the total hours claimed for minus the estimate payment. Mid-term amendments are then submitted, and this adjustment is then made along with the following terms estimate payment.

In your first term as a newly FEEE registered provider you will receive your first payment on the final payment date.

Funding that needs to be transferred will be administered by the FEEE Team in the Business Support Services. This means that all changes to the headcount task must be added to the adjustment task.

Funding always follows the child. If parents / carer(s) do not honour their notice period this is a matter concerning the provider and the parent, and the provider should invoice the parents accordingly.

Once your headcount or adjustment task has been processed by the FEEE Team, you will be able to view what has been paid for each child on the Provider Portal.

• For any child where you have not received your full claim, please go to the child’s record and view the ‘Notes’ tab – the reason for the reduction will be stated in here.
• If a child’s hours have been reduced or not paid due to another setting claiming, please increase the child’s hours back up on the next task and upload a copy of the child’s PSOU in the ‘Documents’ tab.

If you need any further clarification, please email feee@leics.gov.uk.

Children should be in attendance for all the FEEE funded time claimed for unless there is a valid reason, such as illness or holiday. Providers are expected to maintain accurate records of each child’s attendance (including start and leaving times) and ensure they actively engage with parents / carers where attendance is sporadic or consistently lower than the funded hours claimed, amending their claims when relevant.

If attendance is consistently lower than the FEEE hours claimed due to high short-term absences e.g. consistent late drop offs and early pick-ups and / or unexplained days off, money will be reclaimed from the provider.

If you are aware that a child at your setting is taking extended leave or has been having difficulty attending, please email the FEEE Team for advice at feee@leics.gov.uk.

Once the headcount task deadline has passed, you will be given the opportunity via an adjustment task to advise us of any changes to your original submission. This includes new starters, leavers or children who have increased or decreased their hours.

We must be informed of all changes to your Headcount. Payments will be made at the same time as the following periods estimate payment.

A BACS remittance is sent out by the local authority’s Finance Service Centre, usually via email. You will also be able to view your payment summary in the Provider Portal once the payments have been processed.

You will only need to complete the adjustment task when it is released if you need to advise the local authority of any changes. If there are further changes that occur between the adjustment task deadline and the end of the period, you will be able to submit a late adjustment. Please note that the late adjustment is purely for changes that have occurred after the headcount and adjustment deadlines have both passed.

Should you miss adding new starters or an increase of hours that could have been added to the headcount or adjustment task, then you will not receive the funding, we will only pay from the date after the adjustment task deadline.

The adjustment task informs the local authority of any changes that have taken place since you submitted your headcount task. This may include:

• New starters
• Leavers
• Children reducing their hours
• Children increasing their hours

If you have no changes you do not need to return this.

For more information on the support available please see Support from the local authority.

If you have a FEEE related query you can call 0116 305 5788 or email feee@leics.gov.uk. For general childcare advice you can call our Duty Desk on 0116 305 7136 or email childcare@leics.gov.uk.

Depending on what the change is, you may need to give us more details. If any of the following changes have or are due to take place you should complete a change of circumstance form which can be found on our main FEEE page.

• Change of Ownership
• Change of Premises
• Change of Banking Information
• Change of Setting Name
• Change of Organisational Status
• Change of Committee Representative
• Change of Provider Portal User
• Closure / Withdrawal from FEEE

If there are other changes due to take place, i.e. increasing your numbers / age range / extending your provision / high turnover of staff etc, you should email childcare@leics.gov.uk for further support and once the change has occurred, please complete the Self Update Form, which can be found on the ‘Forms’ tab in the Provider Portal.

The local authority does not have a duty to provide targeted support to those who are deemed good or better by Ofsted, there is a huge amount of information and resources available on our website, or you can contact our duty desk on 0116 305 7136 during office hours. Alternatively, you can email us on childcare@leics.gov.uk.

Children in foster care, aged from 9 months until they start school can receive up to a maximum of 30 hours per week over 38 weeks of childcare, if the following criteria are met:

• Accessing the extended hours is consistent with the child’s care plan and will not negatively impact on the child; and
• Show that, in single parent foster families, the foster parent engages in paid work outside of their role as a foster parent; or
• Show that, in 2 parent foster families, either both partners engage in paid work outside of their role as a foster parent, or one partner engages in paid work, and the other partner receives certain qualifying benefits; or
• Show that if one partner is not a foster parent, then that partner must be in qualifying paid work and earn a minimum of the equivalent to 16 hours at national minimum, unless they are receiving certain qualifying benefits.

Foster parents can claim the 30 hours in the period after their foster child turns the relevant age (from 9 months onwards), and they have received a valid eligibility code from the local authority. Eligible children can start a funded place from either the 1 September, 1 January, or 1 April. Foster parents can apply up to 16 weeks before their foster child turns the relevant age.

Foster parents will need to reconfirm with their social worker that they are still working outside of their role as a foster parent every 3 months for the funding to continue.

In the first instance, the foster parent should contact their social care worker to find out more and to apply.