Coventry Schools' Early Education Funding Entitlement - Print version

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Funding Documents for Early Years School Providers

Early Years Annual Parent Funding Agreement 1 September 2025 - 31 August 2026

This form is to be completed by a parent or carer with legal responsibility for an eligible child, together with the chosen early years provider.

Please review the details each term to ensure they are up to date before submitting your claim. 

Early Years Parent Funding Agreement 1 April 2024 - 31 August 2025

This form is to be completed by a parent or carer with legal responsibility for an eligible child, together with the chosen early years provider. Please review the details each term to ensure they are up to date before submitting your claim. 

2-year-old Funding Process

This is the process you follow when offering a 2-year-old funded place 

This is a guide to the evidence required when parents are applying via the following routes:

  • Children of Zambrano Carers 
  • Children of families with no recourse to public funds ( NRPF) with a right to remain in the UK on the grounds of private and family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights;

Extended Entitlement (30 hours childcare) process

This funding is only available  for 3 and 4-year-old children where working parents meet the eligibility criteria 

Posters to promote the 30-hour Extended Entitlement 

Helping parents to reduce their childcare costs

Logged out of the portal or password not working

If you have any questions about these documents, please contact the Early Years Business, Sufficiency and Funding Team: EYProviderfunding@coventry.gov.uk [mailto:EYProviderfunding@coventry.gov.uk]

How to claim Early Years Funding in Schools

Claiming Early Years Funding in Schools [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/early-years-childcare/claiming-funded-child-headcount]

EYPP and DAF

Children chin on hands

Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP)

Schools who deliver the universal element of Early Education Funding to 3-and 4-year-olds, can claim Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) for eligible children. Eligibility criteria [https://www.gov.uk/get-extra-early-years-funding].

Where parents or carers are found to be eligible, EYPP provides additional funding for the child’s nursery class provision.  This funding can be used to provide valuable support such as, extra staff training or resources to help enhance the quality of the child’s early education experience.  Schools are encouraged to speak to parents to explore which children will be eligible to receive EYPP funding.  For example the parents of children who took up the early education entitlement for 2-year-olds, as many of these children will potentially attract EYPP when they transition onto universal funding for 3-and-4-year-olds. 

Please also ensure that the EYPP section of the Parent Funding Agreement is completed by each early year’s provider the child attends. This avoids duplication of payment where a child takes their universal entitlement across two providers.  E.g. A School Nursery Class and a childminder.

If you have any queries relating to eligibility, please email the Business, Sufficiency and Funding Team at EYProviderfunding@coventry.gov.uk [mailto:EYProviderfunding@coventry.gov.uk]

Please access the following template to record the impact of EYPP funding EYPP Impact Sheet [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/downloads/file/38198/eypp-impact-sheet]

The poster and letter can be used to let parents know how their child might benefit from the additional funding that EYPP provides

Making a claim for EYPP

  • Schools must use the Coventry Schools and Early Years Portal to validate EYPP claims.
  • Pupils registered on the SIMMS system are automatically migrated to the Coventry Schools and Early Years portal.  Within SIMMS there is an option to tick a box to say if the child is eligible to receive EYPP, but this does not identify parental eligibility. To ensure payment, all claims must be put through the Coventry Schools and Early Years Portal.
  • Parents must complete the relevant section of the annual Parent Funding Agreement form, prior to any information being uploaded to Coventry Schools and Early Years Portal.  This is to ensure compliance with GDPR
  • To do this, a school administrator must: -
    • Log onto the Coventry Schools and Early Years Portal; Headcount task
    • Beside each child’s name is a blue box ~ click on this to open the sub-box
    • Enter parental details into this section as this provides us with the relevant permission to run checks against the main government database, identifying the family's EYPP eligibility.
    • Once the Early Years Data team has completed these checks and identified which children are eligible, the school will receive a list via the Coventry Schools and Early Years Portal
    • Following receipt of this list, the school should amend the child’s EYPP status on SIMMS.
    • Remove the names of any children who have moved onto Reception Class.

Disability Access Funding (DAF)

Disability Access Funding (DAF) is additional funding for children with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND), who are aged 3 or 4, in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and accessing some or all, of their Universal 15-hour Early Education Entitlement.

Only Schools claiming the universal entitlement will be eligible to apply for DAF. Where a child accesses universal funding across two providers, the parent may choose which provider receives DAF.

DAF is a one-off annual payment for each eligible child. It is essential that Schools claim as soon as possible, as some children will be eligible for a second payment, one year later.

The payment facilitates Schools to make reasonable adjustments to support children with SEND, including accessing staff training, purchasing resources, funding additional sessions etc.

Tax-Free Childcare - information for schools

Working parents who are eligible for Tax-Free Childcare can set up an online Tax-Free Childcare account to pay for childcare.

For every £8 a parent pays into their Childcare Account, the government adds an extra £2. Parents could get up to £2,000 per child per year towards their childcare costs, or up to £4,000 for a child with a disability.

Parents will only be able to make payment to a School if that School is signed up to Tax-Free Childcare.

While parents can't make payments using both Tax-Free Childcare and (Employer) Childcare Vouchers, Schools who are signed up to Tax-Free Childcare can receive payments from both schemes.

Signing up for Tax-Free Childcare

Schools will need to sign up to receive payments from parents. 

To sign up you should be the main contact for your business. You’ll be able to set up a ‘delegate’ to manage your account for you during the process.

You’ll need your:

If you are a maintained, voluntary aided or voluntary controlled school, you should contact your Local Authorities Finance team to find out their UTR and postcode and use that to sign up.

You can sign up online [https://childcare.tax.service.gov.uk/ccp/signup/signupcode] it usually takes around 10 minutes

Managing your account

Using your account is quick and easy. You can use it to:

  • change your delegate information.
  • update your bank account details.

If you don't want to run your own account, you can give access to someone else (your delegate), who'll be able to manage your account on your behalf, including updating your details in that account.

How parents can find you

Once you have signed up to Tax-Free Childcare, parents can use the Childcare Provider Checker to search for you, using your:

  • name (the name you registered with your regulatory authority);
  • address or postcode;
  • regulator reference. For example, if you are registered with OFSTED this will be your Unique Reference Number (URN)

How parents make payments to you

Parents can use their Tax-Free Childcare account to make regular or one-off payments direct to your bank account. The payment should only take 2 to 3 working days to arrive in your bank account. When you receive a payment from a parent, this will include both their payment and the government contribution.

Tax-Free Childcare payments have a reference number of 4 letters and 5 numbers, followed by 'TFC'. The letters are made up of the first initial and the first 3 letters of the surname of the parent making the payment. For example, AJON12345TFC. This will help you link the payment to a specific child.

Memorandum of Understanding for Maintained Schools

This memorandum sets out the terms and conditions for the provision of funded childcare places in Coventry's Maintained schools.

Coventry Business, Sufficiency and Funding Team

Address: Coventry City Council
PO Box 7097
Coventry
CV6 9SL

Telephone: 024 7697 5451 [tel:02476975451]

Provider Funding Agreement 2024 – 2025 for non-maintained or voluntary aided schools

Provider Funding Agreement 2024 – 2025 Terms and Conditions for non-maintained or voluntary aided schools [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/downloads/download/7161/provider-funding-agreement-terms-and-conditions]

This agreement must be completed annually so you can continue to claim Early Education Funding ( EEF) These terms and conditions set out the expectations between Coventry City Council (“the Council”) and (“Provider”) and refers to early year’s provision free of charge (sections 7 and 7A of the Childcare Act 2006) and free childcare (section 2 of the Childcare Act 2016) as the ‘free entitlement(s)’ or ‘free hours’ or a ‘free place’.

These terms apply to the 15 hour entitlement for the most disadvantaged two year olds, the 15 hour entitlement for parents of three and four year olds (the universal entitlement) and the additional 15 hours entitlement for working parents of three and four year olds (the extended entitlement). In addition to these, Disability Access Funding (DAF) and Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP).

The Provider Agreement is for:

  • Local authorities
  • Early years providers who are referred to as ‘Providers’ and include:
  • Early years providers and childminders registered on the Ofsted Early Years Register;
  • Childminders registered with a childminder agency that is registered with Ofsted;
  • Independent Schools and Academies taking children age two and over and which are exempt from registration with Ofsted as an early years provider.

The Parent and Carer Agreement is for:

  • Early years Providers, as set out above
  • Parents

The Council is committed to the delivery of high-quality Early Education Places through supporting and monitoring provision in the city.

The Council and the Provider have agreed to enter into this agreement in order to provide the service of Early Education Places.

The Agreement shall come into effect on 1 September 2024 until 31 August 2025 unless terminated early in accordance with the terms of the Agreement.

Once you have read the full Terms and Conditions [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/downloads/download/7161/provider-funding-agreement-terms-and-conditions] you should complete and submit the Provider Funding Agreement Form [https://myaccount.coventry.gov.uk/en/service/2__3_and_4_Year_Old_Early_Education_Places___Provider_Funding_Agreement]. The Provider Funding Agreement form is for providers and non-maintained voluntary aided schools only and not for parents and carers.

If you are a parent, please contact the Early Years Business, Sufficiency and Funding Team - EYProviderfunding@coventry.gov.uk [mailto:EYProviderfunding@coventry.gov.uk] for support and guidance on Early Years funding. 

Funded weeks and payment schedule

The funded weeks and payment schedule document outlines important dates related to submitting information onto the Coventry Schools and Early Years Portal including payment dates, funding rates and funding periods.

Please remember the funding periods will not always reflect school term dates.

Funded weeks and payment schedule 2025-2026 document [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/downloads/file/31524/funded-weeks-and-payment-schedule-2025-2026]

Funded weeks and payment schedule 2024-2025 document [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/downloads/file/41743/funded-weeks-and-payment-schedule-2024-2025]

 

Schools' early years funding portal guidance

Coventry Schools and Early Years Portal Support

What to do when you are logged out of the Early Years Portal [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/downloads/file/30619/what_to_do_when_you_are_logged_out_of_the_early_years_portal] 

Early Years Portal Downloads [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/downloads/download/4880/early_years_portal_downloads]

Parent Portal guidance for Two Year Old Funding [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/downloads/download/4791/parent_portal_guidance_for_two_year_old_funding]

"How to videos" - Coventry Schools and Early Years Portal

How to successfully log onto the Headcount Portal

 

How to add a 2 year old 

How to add a 3 or 4-year-old

How to edit your headcount data

 

How to create a DAF application

Claiming for a child Post Census (PCH34)

Better Start - How to access your task

Better Start - How to submit an assessment

Better Start - How to run a report

Changes to Early Education Entitlements 2023 -2025

Starting from April 2024, existing childcare support will be expanded in phases. By September 2025, most working families with children under the age of 5 will be entitled to 30 hours of funded childcare.

These phases are as follows:

  • From April 2024, eligible working parents of 2-year-olds will be able to access 15 hours childcare support.
  • From September 2024, 15 hours childcare support will be extended to eligible working parents of children from the age of 9 months to 3-year-olds.
  • From September 2025, eligible working parents of children under the age of 5 will be entitled to 30 hours of childcare a week.

Like the existing offer, these hours can be accessed across 38 weeks of the year (during school term time), or up to 52 weeks where the provider is offering a stretched model of delivery.

How many hours of childcare can parents access?
Age Eligibility     Now   September 2025
9-23 months Eligible working families     15 30
2 year olds Current 2 year old funding criteria     15 15
2 year olds Eligible working families     15 30
3 and 4 year olds All     15 15
3 and 4 year olds Eligible working families     30 30
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