Nursery education funding

To offer government funded places, providers must sign up to Peterborough's Provider Agreement. 

Please contact laura.adams@peterborough.gov.uk for your agreement and for more information.

Once we have received your signed agreement, Hannah Oliviero (Settings Finance Officer) will begin the process to get your payment details set up, and provide instructions and support with claiming.

All funding queries should be directed to nurseryeducationfunding@peterborough.gov.uk.

The city council pays childcare providers to deliver the funded early education entitlement (FEEE) to children.

The amount paid is determined by the Early Years National Funding Formula (EYNFF) in line with government regulations. It is designed to improve fairness and transparency in the way that funding is allocated to local authorities and subsequently to providers.

In Peterborough, this is made up of a universal hourly base rate, a deprivation supplement (children living in the 30 percent most deprived areas qualify) and a flexibility supplement (for settings meeting criteria).

Funding rates

Funding hourly rates effective from 1 April 2025 for all provider types are as follows: 

EYNFF supplements effective from 1 April 2025:

What is Early Years Pupil Premium?

The government introduced an Early Years Pupil Premium for qualifying children accessing their funded entitlements. The purpose of this funding is to support settings in narrowing the attainment gap between the least and most deprived families in the country.

Funding rate for EYPP

EYPP is paid at a national rate of £1.00 per funded hour, per child, on top of their funding hourly rate. This equates to an additional £570.00 for a child receiving the full 570 hour entitlement. 

There are no conditions from the government about how additional income generated by EYPP is spent. However, it is the expectation that providers should demonstrate commitment to improving the quality of early years provision for their disadvantaged children. Providers will be held to account for the quality of the early years education that they provide to disadvantaged children through Ofsted inspection.

Qualifying criteria

To be eligible for EYPP, the child's parent/carer must be receiving one or more of the following benefits:

• Income Support
• Income based Job Seekers Allowance
• Income related Employment and Support Allowance
• Support under part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• The guarantee element of State Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit (provided they are not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
• Working Tax Credit run-on – paid for 4 weeks after the parent/carer no longer qualifies for Working Tax Credit.
• Universal Credit (provided household income is below £7,400 a year after tax, excluding any benefits)

Or the child:

• Has been looked after by the local authority by at least one day
• Has been adopted from care
• Has left care through special guardianship
• Is subject to a child arrangement order

Checking a child's eligibility for EYPP

The Parent and Provider Agreement form allows Providers to collect the relevant information and consent from parent/carers to submit their details for eligibility checks. 

Providers will be required to complete their EYPP Eligibility Checker on the Wizard Provider Portal with the following information for EYPP checks to take place:

• Parent surname
• Parent forename
• Parent date of birth
• Parent National Insurance Number or National Asylum Support Service (NASS) reference
• Child’s forename
• Child’s surname.

The results will be immediate as there is a direct link with the Government Eligibility Checking Service system. If the check was successful, the result will display as ‘Found and Eligible’ and the system will generate a code that will link to the child and generate the EYPP funding at headcount. A list of eligible checks will also be in the ‘EYPP Entitlement Summary’ section on your portal.  

Please note the EYPP Checker is for economic (i.e. benefits related) eligibility checks only. If the child qualifies due to adoption, special guardianship, child arrangement order or they are a looked after child, please contact nurseryeducationfunding@peterborough.gov.uk in the first instance. 

Recent changes to EYPP mean that there is no longer a requirement to re-check EYPP status annually. This means that once EYPP eligibility is awarded, it remains in place for the duration of the child’s funded entitlement and you do not need to submit details again for rechecking. 

What is DAF?

The Disability Access Fund (DAF) is available to support providers to make reasonable adjustments to their settings and/or help with building capacity for the eligible child or for the benefit of children as a whole attending the setting.  

This consists of an annual allocation of £938. Only one annual allocation of DAF can be made for each child. If the child is splitting their hours across more than one setting, the parent/carer will need to nominate the main setting to receive the DAF through the Parent/Carer and Provider Agreement.  

Who is eligible for DAF?

 DAF covers eligible children accessing all funded entitlements.  Children must be receiving their funded entitlement and be in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to qualify. Settings must have seen and uploaded a copy of the child’s DLA award letter. The child does not have to be taking up the full entitlement to access DAF.  

How can I claim DAF?

To access this funding, use the ‘DAF Claim’ link in your Wizard Provider portal. You will be asked to input the child’s details and upload the DAF evidence (DWP letter confirming DLA).

A parent and provider agreement must be signed for each funded child accessing your setting, before funding commences. Parent and provider agreement forms will be checked when you have an audit with the Settings Finance Officer. 

An editable version of this form can be found below. You must download and save it before you can edit and share with parent/carers for completion. 

The Settings Finance Team have produced guidance to support you with making funding claims and submitting eligibility checks on the Wizard provider portal. 

Follow this link to access Wizard: The Wizard - Early Years Solution

Please email nurseryeducationfunding@peterborough.gov.uk if you require additional support or further training. 

The Year Planner 2024 and 2025 is available to show you the maximum hours available to claim in each funding period/term.

Overview

Early years providers can deliver funded entitlements using different models, depending on their operating weeks. While funding is allocated on a term-time equivalent basis (as calculated by the Department for Education), providers who are open for more than the standard 38 weeks per year can choose to stretch the entitlement across their open weeks.

Annual Funded Entitlements

Children may be eligible for the following annual funded hours:

• 570 hours per year for:
  • Disadvantaged or low-income 2-year-olds
  • Universal entitlement for 3- and 4-year-olds
• 1140 hours per year for:
  • Children aged 9 months to 4 years with a valid Working Parent Entitlement code (commonly referred to as “30 hours”)

Termly Allocation of Hours

The DfE divides annual entitlements into maximum termly allocations:

For 570-hour entitlement:

For 1140-hour entitlement:

Note: If a child starts part-way through the academic year, they will only receive the hours allocated for the remaining terms.

Stretching the Funded Hours

Providers can stretch the funded hours in two main ways:

1. Termly Stretch

Providers stretch the termly maximum hours across the number of weeks they are open in each term.

Example for a provider open 52 weeks/year (Autumn = 17 weeks, Spring = 13 weeks, Summer = 22 weeks):

For 570-hour entitlement:

For 1140-hour entitlement:

If a provider is closed for part of a term (e.g., one week at Christmas), divide the term’s maximum hours by the actual number of open weeks.

2. Yearly Stretch
Where a child starts in Autumn term and is completing a full academic year, Providers can stretch the total annual entitlement across all open weeks in the year. This offers consistent weekly hours but requires careful tracking.

Example for a 52-week model:

• 570 hours ÷ 52 weeks = 10.96 hours/week
• 1140 hours ÷ 52 weeks = 21.92 hours/week

Providers must monitor usage closely, especially if a child leaves mid-year. Hours may need to be reconciled to avoid over- or under-delivery.

Banking and Balancing Hours

In the yearly stretch model, providers may “bank” unused hours from Autumn and Spring to cover higher delivery in Summer. If a child leaves before completing the year, providers must calculate:

• Hours claimed vs. hours delivered
• Any surplus or shortfall
• Whether additional funded sessions or charges apply

Example for 570-hour entitlement in a 52-week setting:

Split Attendance Across Settings

If a child attends more than one setting:

• All claims must be made on a term-time equivalent basis
• Each provider may choose to stretch their portion of hours independently
• Providers must coordinate to ensure the child does not exceed their entitlement

Example:

• In Autumn term Setting A delivers 6 hours/week for 14 term time weeks = 84 hours
• Remaining Autumn entitlement = 210 - 84 = 126 hours
• Setting B (open 16 weeks) can stretch 126 hours = 7.87 hours/week

Converting Decimal Hours to Hours and Minutes

• To convert decimal hours:
• Separate the whole number (hours)
• Multiply the decimal by 60 to get minutes

Example:
12.4 hours = 12 hours + (0.4 × 60) = 12 hours and 24 minutes

Support and Contact

For help calculating stretched offers or reconciling hours, contact: nurseryeducationfunding@peterborough.gov.uk