EARLY YEARS PUPIL PREMIUM
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
GUIDANCE FOR PVCI EARLY YEARS PROVIDERS
APRIL 2015
This Frequently Asked Questions document is designed to be read as local guidance, to support and complement national guidance in relation to the new Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP). This guidance is specifically written with early years providers in the private, voluntary and independent sector in mind. Separate guidance will be provided by the Local Authority (LA) to applying for the EYPP for 3 and 4 year olds taking up their early education entitlement in schools.
INTRODUCTION
Q1. Why is the Government introducing the EYPP?
The Sutton Trust claims that at the start of school there is a 19 month gap between the most and least advantaged children. Many disadvantaged children are already behind when they start school and these gaps that are apparent in the early years, between disadvantaged children and their peers, persist and widen throughout school and beyond. Closing this gap and eradicating this inequality is fundamental to ensuring all children get the best start in life. The Government is therefore prioritising high quality early education because it can make a dramatic difference to children’s life chances. Building on the successful model of the school age Pupil Premium, this additional investment to early years providers to help them raise the quality of their provision, aims to close the gap between 3 & 4 year olds from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers.
Q2. When will the EYPP be introduced?
Trials of the EYPP started in 7 LA areas in January 2015 and the funding will be introduced nationwide from April 2015. The trial LA areas are Blackpool, Bristol, Cambridgeshire, North Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Hackney and Stoke-on-Trent.
CHECKING ELIGIBILITY
Q3. Will all providers receive the funding?
All registered early years providers delivering the funded early education entitlement, including school nurseries, private, voluntary and independent providers and childminders, will be eligible to claim the EYPP for eligible 3 & 4 year olds.
Q4. What about provider’s rated as ‘requiring improvement’ by Ofsted?
Providers rated as ‘requiring improvement’ by Ofsted will be able to claim the EYPP but if the provider is rated as ‘inadequate’, the LA will remove any funding for the early education entitlement, including the EYPP, as soon as practicable.
Q5. Are all 2, 3 and 4 year old funded children eligible for the EYPP?
No. The EYPP is only available to 3 and 4 year olds that are accessing the early education entitlement and if they meet the set eligibility criteria.
Q6. Will eligible 2 year olds accessing the early education entitlement automatically qualify for the EYPP?
No, the eligibility criteria are different. The EYPP is focused on the most disadvantaged children, is very tight and targeted at 3 and 4 year olds from economically disadvantaged households and those who are in or have been in care. A child’s eligibility for the EYPP should be checked at the time they become eligible for the 3 and 4 year old free early education entitlement.
Q7. When do children start being eligible?
Three and four year olds will be eligible for the EYPP if they are accessing the early education entitlement and if they meet the eligibility criteria. Children will become eligible at different points in the year depending on when they turn three/four, the same as their eligibility for the early education entitlement. It would therefore be appropriate for a child’s eligibility to be checked at the point when the parent indicates that they wish to take up the early education entitlement for their child. In complying with data protection principles, providers, using the Parental Agreement, will ensure that parents are aware that any personal details they provide will be used for the purposes of checking eligibility for the EYPP.
Q8. Are 4 year olds in primary school reception classes eligible for the EYPP?
No. These children will already receive the school age Pupil Premium and therefore will not be eligible for the EYPP.
Q9. What happens if a child stays on in early years provision rather than joining a school reception class? Are they still eligible for the EYPP?
If a child is still receiving the early education entitlement (i.e. the 15 hours) and they meet the eligibility criteria, they would still be eligible for the EYPP.
Q10. What are the eligibility criteria?
3 & 4 years olds accessing their early education entitlement will attract EYPP funding if they meet at least 1 of the following criteria:
Their family gets 1 of the following:
· Income Support
· Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
· Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
· Support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
· The guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
· Child Tax Credit (provided they’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
· Working Tax Credit run-on, which is paid for 4 weeks after they stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
· Universal Credit
Or, if;
· They have been in local-authority care for 1 day or more in England or Wales
· They have been adopted from care in England or Wales
· They have left care under a special guardianship order or residence order in England or Wales
Q11. What is the arrangement for looked after children?
The LA’s Virtual School Head will be responsible for identifying eligible looked after children and will work with the child’s social worker or foster carer to arrange EYPP funding with the associated early years providers. This will include any looked-after children who live in this LA area, even those who get their early years education with a provider based in a different LA.
Q12. How often does a child’s eligibility need to be checked?
A child’s eligibility will only need to be checked once a year, usually as soon as a potentially eligible child is identified. The Government suggests that a second check could take place at the start of the academic year in September, to give some national consistency to the check.
Q13. Will the LA where the child resides be responsible for checking the child’s eligibility or will it be the LA where the setting is?
For most children, the LA receiving funding for the early entitlement for a particular child will be responsible for carrying out the EYPP eligibility checks for that child. So the setting in the LA area receiving the funding for that child will be responsible for ensuring the child’s EYPP eligibility is checked, not the LA where the child resides.
Q14. Who is responsible for identifying eligible children?
Early years providers are responsible for identifying which of the children in their care may be eligible for the EYPP. Providers typically already collect paperwork from parents claiming the early education entitlement, including the Parental Agreement. The Parental Agreement has been amended to include collecting information from the parent to enable, and give permission for, the EYPP eligibility check to be conducted. In essence, this will mean collecting the parents National Insurance number or National Asylum Support Service (NASS) number and their date of birth. It will be voluntary for parents to give this information but it is hoped that if this information is collected for all parents, all eligible children will be identified. The Parental Agreements will still need to be retained by the setting for auditing purposes.
Q15. Who is responsible for checking a child’s eligibility?
When the provider has the completed Parental Agreement for a child, the provider will be able to enter this information onto the Capita Headcount Portal, which will have the new function of a ‘bulk eligibility checker’. This will allow the Headcount Portal to access the Eligibility Checking Service (ECS) and identify eligible children for the EYPP. Eligible children will be confirmed and automatically uploaded onto the Headcount Portal and their EYPP allocation funded proportionately with the number of early education entitlement hours they take up.
Q16. How is a child’s eligibility checked?
Children’s eligibility for the EYPP will be checked using the ECS, the same way eligibility for 2 year olds is checked at the moment. The table below illustrates how the ECS works.
Q17. Will the ECS be ready for use in this way from April 2015?
Yes, the Early Years Pupil Premium Check is now available in the Eligibility Checking Service. This functionality went live at the end of March and the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill has received Royal Assent which provides the legal gateway to undertake EYPP checks through the ECS.
ADMINISTRATION OF THE FUNDING
Q18. How much is the EYPP allocation for an eligible child?
The hourly rate for the EYPP is £0.53 per child. The amount of EYPP paid is pro-rated dependent on the amount of early education entitlement the child accesses.
For example, an eligible child accessing their full 15 hour entitlement would attract the maximum funding (53p per hour x 15 hours a week x 38 weeks a year = £302.10 per year, for example), whereas a child accessing 10 hours a week for 2 terms would have funding pro-rated (53p per hour x 10 hours a week x 26 weeks = £137.80, for example).
As with the funding for the early education entitlement, where a child takes up the entitlement at more than one provider, the providers will receive the EYPP proportionate to the number of hours the child attends.
Q19. Do children have to access the full early education entitlement (i.e. 570 hours) to be eligible for the EYPP?
No, children do not have to access the full entitlement in order to be eligible for the EYPP. Providers will receive EYPP funding that is proportionate to the number of hours that a child is taking up.
Q20. How will the EYPP be paid?
The EYPP will be paid as an hourly rate in addition to the rate for the early education entitlement, funding administered for the private, voluntary and independent sector by the Early Years Team. The EYPP will be calculated and paid on a termly basis in line with the early education entitlement. The funding allocated to early years providers will be based on how many eligible pupils they have and how many hours of the free early education entitlement these children take up.
Providers will receive a funding report from Capita to highlight the amount of EYPP funding for the term and the eligible children this applies to.
Q21. How will the EYPP be paid to childminders who are registered with a childminder agency?
Childminders registered with a childminder agency receive their funding through that agency. The LA will therefore pay the childminder’s EYPP to their agency who will pass it on to the childminder.
Q22. What if a child moves to a different provider partway through the year?
LA’s will only fund providers for the EYPP based on the number of hours of early education a child actually receives. An important principle of the EYPP is that the funding follows the child. If a child moves to a different provider during the year, this should be recorded on the Capita Headcount Portal which will adjust the funding so that the allocation of EYPP that is proportionate to the number of hours of early education that a child takes up at the new provider. Moving between providers should not result in a loss of funding by providers as this should be calculated on actual number of hours. This will mirror the normal protocols for funding 3 and 4 year olds through the free early education entitlement.
Q23. What about cases where a child lives in one LA area but receives their early education entitlement at an early years provider based in a different LA?
It is the LA where the early years provider is based that is responsible for checking the child’s eligibility and funding the EYPP for the child in that provision.
Q24. Is EYPP funding linked to the base rate and supplements for 3 and 4 year olds?
No. The eligibility criteria states that the child must be accessing their early education entitlement but the EYPP is an additional hourly rate. This is separate to the base rate and current supplements for 3 and 4 year olds. Capita Headcount Portal Reports will be able to identify 2, 3 and 4 year old funding, supplement pay and EYPP funding allocations.
Q25. Will LA’s top slice the EYPP?
No, the EYPP will be set at a national hourly rate. LA’s will have no flexibility to vary the amount per child. The full allocation received by the LA will be passed on to the provider.
SPENDING AND MONITORING THE EYPP
Q26. What can the EYPP can be spent on?
The Government will not impose restrictions on how providers spend the EYPP, early years settings will have the freedom to decide how to use the EYPP to help 3 and 4 year olds learn and develop.
As yet, there are only a few published examples as to what the EYPP can be spent on. Acceptable expenditure, it is suggested, could include funding on language groups for targeted children, play therapy, home school liaison worker, speech therapist and music specialist, toy library or parent education sessions. It could provide additional training for staff on early language, investing in partnership working with colleagues in the area to further expertise or support staff working in specialised areas, such as speech and language. Furthermore, it could be used to contribute towards employing a teacher*, input from specialist graduates has the greatest impact on children’s outcomes. Money doesn’t have to go directly to the child, it can be pooled and used for universal interventions so that a group of providers get more for their money and contribute to the cost of a shared teacher to work across a number of settings or to purchase group training.
However the money is spent, settings will need to be clear, with supporting guidance from Ofsted, on how this has resulted in a measurable quality improvement.
*Before embarking on employing additional staff, serious thought should be given as to the long term viability and sustainability of contributing EYPP funding to this are given that funding allocations to each setting will fluctuate depending on the number of eligible children in the setting and the hours they take up.