Common use of FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Clause in Contracts

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS. What happens to funding when a child starts school? A child reaches statutory school age at the beginning of the first term after their fifth birthday (1 January, 1 April or 1 September). At this age they no longer qualify for FEE. SCC offers most children the opportunity of starting reception class in the maintained sector before the child is of statutory school age. If the child has a delayed start to their school place during autumn term, they cannot claim their funded entitlement as the school will be funded from the beginning of the term for the child, even if they are part-time, by Schools Finance. What if a child lives outside of Surrey or attends another setting outside of the county? Funded Early Education is not linked to where the child lives. It is the Local Authority where the child is educated that pays the funding. If a child goes to another setting that is not in Surrey, please make sure that no more than the maximum hours are claimed between the two local authorities. It is the setting’s responsibility to check the SCC Child Declaration Form to make sure this is not happening. We have just moved to England and my child is not a British citizen, will they be entitled to claim funded early education? Yes, a child moving to England from another country is entitled to the universal 15 hours of funded early education on the same basis as any other child, regardless of whether they have British citizenship or you have been told you have no recourse to public funds. Some two year old children with no recourse to public funds may also be entitled to Funded Early Education for Two Year Olds (FEET) to find out more Funded early education for two year olds (FEET) - Surrey County Council (xxxxxxxx.xxx.xx) Can I offer funded early education during school holidays? Funded early education can be offered throughout the year including at weekends rather than just during maintained school term times, e.g. 10.96 hours per week for 52 weeks per year for a universal 15 hour offer or 21.92 hours per week for 52 weeks per year for an extended 30 hour offer. This is called a stretched offer. If your stretched offer is for less than 50 weeks each year, you should inform your parents that it is unlikely that they will be able to take their full entitlement. The total annual number of hours claimed cannot exceed 570 hours or 1140 hours per child. The maximum number of hours a child can have in a week will be dependent on how many weeks in a year you are open but can be no more than 15 hours or 30 hours per week. 52 weeks 10.96 hours 51 weeks 11.17 hours 50 weeks 11.40 hours Examples of stretched offers: Universal 15 hour offer: Extended 30 hour offer: 52 weeks 21.92 hours 51 weeks 22.35 hours 50 weeks 22.80 hours Can I open in the school holidays if I have a term time only provider agreement? There is an expectation that if you have a term time Provider Agreement that you will be closed in the school holidays. It is unlikely that children on a term time offer will be attending your setting during these periods. What if I can’t offer 15 hours a week? If you are unable to open for 15 hours a week, for example, because the premises are unavailable, the parent can choose to use their child’s remaining funded hours at another provider. What if I can’t offer 38 weeks a year or 30 hours each week? There is no requirement that providers must open for at least 38 weeks of the year or that providers must offer 30 hours each week in order to deliver funded entitlement. However even if you only offer 15 hours of funded early education a week to three and four-year-olds, you may still be part of a 30 hour offer for a parent. For example, a parent may take their universal (first) 15 hours with a full day care setting and then their extended (second) 15 hours with you. This means that if you're offering a place to a parent and they've given you their 30 hour eligibility code, even if you're not delivering more than 15 hours of funded early education, you should check this code in the Early Education Portal before offering them a place to make sure you'll get funded. If I can’t open for 38 weeks a year, do I have to tell parents? Yes, you must tell parents in writing that you are offering less than they are entitled to. Your letter should explain the full entitlement, give the Surrey Family Information Service contact details (xxxxxx.xxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx.xx) and explain the potential drawbacks of going to a setting offering less than 38 weeks per year. Can a child go to more than one provider? Yes, but if the child attends just term-time settings the total claim must not be more than 15 hours or 30 hours a week (if eligible for the extended entitlement). If the child attends through the holidays, the maximum number of hours each week will be less. Parents must make it clear on the Declaration Form before the beginning of each funded period where they want to claim the funded hours. Priority will be given to the setting who submits their information first. Child attending stretched and term time providers – Where the stretched funding provider submits their claim first, only the weekly stretched hours balance will be available for the term time setting to claim; Where the term time only provider submits their claim first, there will only be a balance of hours for the stretched funding provider to claim, which means that the hours may “run out” before the end of the funded period. The provider will need to charge the parent for any hours that are not funded. It might be helpful for both settings to agree to work with the Funded Early Education Team to maximise funding for each provider. A parent may choose to pay for all of their child’s care at your setting if they are using all of their funded hours at another setting. If a child goes to both your setting and a maintained nursery class or school, you will only be able to claim for the funded hours that the parent is not using at the maintained nursery class or school.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS. What happens to funding when a child starts school? A child reaches statutory school age at the beginning of the first term after their fifth birthday (1 January, 1 April or 1 September). At this age they no longer qualify for FEE. SCC offers most children the opportunity of starting reception class in the maintained sector before the child is of statutory school age. If the child has a delayed start to their school place during autumn term, they cannot claim their funded entitlement as the school will be funded from the beginning of the term for the child, even if they are part-time, by Schools Finance. What if a child lives outside of Surrey or attends another setting outside of the county? Funded Early Education is not linked to where the child lives. It is the Local Authority where the child is educated that pays the funding. If a child goes to another setting that is not in Surrey, please make sure that no more than the maximum hours are claimed between the two local authorities. It is the setting’s responsibility to check the SCC Child Declaration Form to make sure this is not happening. We have just moved to England and my child is not a British citizen, will they be entitled to claim funded early education? Yes, a child moving to England from another country is entitled to the universal 15 hours of funded early education on the same basis as any other child, regardless of whether they have British citizenship or you have been told you have no recourse to public funds. Some two year old children with no recourse to public funds may also be entitled to Funded Early Education for Two Year Olds (FEET) to find out more Funded early education for two year olds (FEET) - Surrey County Council (xxxxxxxx.xxx.xx) Can I offer funded early education during school holidays? Funded early education can be offered throughout the year including at weekends rather than just during maintained school term times, e.g. 10.96 hours per week for 52 weeks per year for a universal 15 hour offer or 21.92 hours per week for 52 weeks per year for an extended 30 hour offer. This is called a stretched offer. If your stretched offer is for less than 50 weeks each year, you should inform your parents that it is unlikely that they will be able to take their full entitlement. The total annual number of hours claimed cannot exceed 570 hours or 1140 hours per child. The maximum number of hours a child can have in a week will be dependent on how many weeks in a year you are open but can be no more than 15 hours or 30 hours per week. Examples of stretched offers: Universal 15 hour offer: 52 weeks 10.96 hours 51 weeks 11.17 hours 50 weeks 11.40 hours Examples of stretched offers: Universal 15 hour offer: Extended 30 hour offer: 52 weeks 21.92 hours 51 weeks 22.35 hours 50 weeks 22.80 hours Can I open in the school holidays if I have a term time only provider agreement? There is an expectation that if you have a term time Provider Agreement provider agreement that you will be closed in the school holidays. It is unlikely that children on a term time offer will be attending your setting during these periods. What if I can’t offer 15 hours a week? If you are unable to open for 15 hours a week, for example, because the premises are unavailable, the parent can choose to use their child’s remaining funded hours at another provider. What if I can’t offer 38 weeks a year or 30 hours each week? There is no requirement that providers must open for at least 38 weeks of the year or that providers must offer 30 hours each week in order to deliver funded entitlement. However even if you only offer 15 hours of funded early education a week to three and four-year-olds, you may still be part of a 30 hour offer for a parent. For example, a parent may take their universal (first) 15 hours with a full day care setting and then their extended (second) 15 hours with you. This means that if you're offering a place to a parent and they've given you their 30 hour eligibility code, even if you're not delivering more than 15 hours of funded early education, you should check this code in the Early Education Portal before offering them a place to make sure you'll get funded. If I can’t open for 38 weeks a year, do I have to tell parents? Yes, you must tell parents in writing that you are offering less than they are entitled to. Your letter should explain the full entitlement, give the Surrey Family Information Service contact details (xxxxxx.xxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx.xx) and explain the potential drawbacks of going to a setting offering less than 38 weeks per year. Can a child go to more than one provider? Yes, but if the child attends just term-time settings the total claim must not be more than 15 hours or 30 hours a week (if eligible for the extended entitlement). If the child attends through the holidays, the maximum number of hours each week will be less. Parents must make it clear on the Declaration Form before the beginning of each funded period where they want to claim the funded hours. Priority will be given to the setting who submits their information first. Child attending stretched and term time providers – Where the stretched funding provider submits their claim first, only the weekly stretched hours balance will be available for the term time setting to claim; Where the term time only provider submits their claim first, there will only be a balance of hours for the stretched funding provider to claim, which means that the hours may “run out” before the end of the funded period. The provider will need to charge the parent for any hours that are not funded. It might be helpful for both settings to agree to work with the Funded Early Education Team to maximise funding for each provider. A parent may choose to pay for all of their child’s care at your setting if they are using all of their funded hours at another setting. If a child goes to both your setting and a maintained nursery class or school, you will only be able to claim for the funded hours that the parent is not using at the maintained nursery class or school.