Funding handbook for Coventry Childcare Providers: Early Education Entitlement Funding

Fee information checklist for childcare provider delivering early education entitlement funding

Does the fee information:

• include the name, address, telephone, and email contact details of the provision?
• state opening hours?
• make clear to parents that funded entitlement hours are completely free of charge during specified hours/sessions/days?
• tell parents which times and days funded hours will be delivered?
• tell parents about the maximum number of funded weeks/hours in each term and academic year, and which weeks/dates are covered in each funding period?
• highlight to parents that all children in receipt of funding must have taken up a place before the termly headcount date?
• make clear to parents, the policy the provision will follow, where parents choose to relocate their child to a new provision/school, following the submission of termly headcount data to Coventry City Council?
• highlight to parents who are in receipt of a 30-hour funded place, that they must re-confirm their eligibility every 3 months, as prompted by HMRC and the consequences, should the parent fail to do so?
• include charges for ‘privately paid for’ hours?
• set out contractual expectations relating to ‘privately paid hours and optional items and services?
• clearly outline eligibility requirements for each of the funding entitlements offered and tell parents how they can apply?
• highlight to parents that the provision of items and services, including food consumables, non-food consumables, activities and additional hours will be offered as an optional extra which parents may purchase? Costs for each item and/or service should be stated, for example:
  • additional hours £?
  • food charges £?
  • non-food consumables charges £?
  • and activities charges £?
• a comprehensive breakdown of all items and services that are covered by the optional extras policy, under each of the following headings:
  • food charges e.g. snacks, breakfast, lunch and tea
  • non-food consumables charges e.g. nappies and sun cream
  • activities charges e.g. weekly gym tots session
• highlight to parents the policy you will follow on how you will respond if parents choose to opt out of the additional charges?
• state the terms, conditions and costs incurred for late collection?
• enable parents to easily reconcile fee information against their invoice, so that they can clearly identify what they have been charged for and why? Headings must include but may not be limited to:
  • the number of free entitlements hours
  • the number and cost of additional privately paid hours
  • food consumable charges
  • non-food consumables charges
  • activities charges
• state how parents can apply for and use a Tax-Free childcare account?
• inform parents about additional funding payments such as Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) and Disability Access Funding (DAF)?

Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP)

Early years providers can claim (EYPP) for eligible children who are in receipt of early education funding. Funding provided through EYPP is intended for use enhancing the environment, purchasing additional resources or staff training. The payment covers the first 15 hours of each eligible child’s entitlement. The hourly rate for EYPP is subject to annual change and can be found on the Early Years website in a document called ‘Funded Weeks and Payment Schedule’.

Making a claim for EYPP

• Providers must use the Coventry Schools and Early Years Portal to make and validate EYPP claims
• parents must complete the relevant section of the Coventry Early Years Annual Parent Funding Agreement, prior to any information being uploaded to Coventry Schools and Early Years Portal

Disability Access Funding (DAF)

• DAF is an additional annual payment made to providers for eligible children who are accessing a funded place and are also in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
• the funding provided through DAF is intended for use in supporting the provision to make reasonable adjustments, which help to remove barriers to attendance for children with SEND

Making a claim for DAF:

• claims must be made via the Coventry Schools and Early Years Portal. Parents will need to provide evidence that their child is in receipt of DLA. This evidence will need to be uploaded to the portal
• parents must complete the relevant section of the Coventry Early Years Annual Parent Funding Agreement, prior to any information being uploaded to Coventry Schools and Early Years Portal

Invoices and receipts

Providers should ensure they have clear invoice/receipt structures in place which enable parents to easily reconcile invoices with charges detailed on the provider’s fee information. Invoices should be fully itemised to show a break-down of all aspects of the fee including funded hours, additional ‘paid for' hours, services, meals and snacks.

• the number of free entitlements hours
• the number and cost of additional privately paid for hours
• food consumable charges
• non-food consumables charges
• activity charges

Please note, funded hours must not be presented as a monetary value and therefore must be shown as zero cost. This is to ensure that parents can see that their children have received funded hours completely free of charge at the point of delivery.

Many providers now choose to bill parents in equal monthly amounts, known as an annualised format; this creates convenience and certainty for both providers and parents in terms of cash-flow. It does however create a couple of infrequent complications which providers must make clear and communicate to affected parents:

• if a child does not take up a funded place until part-way through the year, parents need to be made aware that any additional, optional charges covering the remainder of the academic year will be spread across fewer monthly payments. This may mean higher payments for these months to cover childcare costs during holiday periods, where a provider operates 51 weeks of the year
• if a child leaves the childcare place part-way through a year, the parents may have been paying a higher monthly fee to cover holiday periods which they would then not access. Providers would be required to re-calculate the costs incurred for that year to ensure that affected parents have not been overcharged, and to reimburse parents where they have overpaid

Invoices will not be required where parents access funded hours only and do not pay for any additional hours, items or services.

Checklist for invoices and receipts

Is the following information clearly detailed on the invoice/receipt issued to parents?

• Provider name
• Provider address
• Provider contact
• Invoice number
• Invoice date
• Provider telephone number and/or email
• Parent name and contact details
• Child’s name

Itemised pricing information which is clearly reconcilable with the information you have provided on the fee information

• the total number of funded hours and weeks allocated for the term
• the total number of hours contracted to attend in this invoice period (Both privately paid for and funded hours)
• the total number of funded hours claimed.
• these must be shown as hours and are not represented as a monetary value. E.g. 60 funded entitlement hours = £0.00
• additionally purchased ‘privately paid for’ hours are clearly itemised E.g. 10 hours @ £? (School rate)
• food charges
• non-food charges consumable charges
• activity charges

Early Education Funding Delivery - Compliant Invoice Examples

Please see examples of invoices that would be considered compliant with government and Coventry City Council requirements, Providers should use these examples to ensure compliance against the requirements. We have included annualised invoice examples, which are used by some providers. Annualised invoice calculations are used to spread the total cost of provision over a set number of months, up to a maximum of 12. Where the examples refer to non-annualised invoices, this is where the provider calculates the charge based on hours attended in the invoice period.
Please note that all invoice examples have been set to refer to the month of April which has fewer funded days than a typical month.