Walsall Early Years Pupil Premium briefing note: March 2015

  1. What is the purpose of the Early Years Pupil Premium?

The Early Years Pupil Premium is being introduced in April 2015 to provide additional funding for early years settings to improve the education they provide for disadvantaged 3- and 4-year-olds.The aim is to help settings to close the gap between children from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers because research has shown that high quality early education and childcare can have a lasting impact on children’s attainment and behaviour, particularly for the most disadvantaged.

  1. Which settings can claim the funding?

Any setting that provides the free early years entitlement for 3 and 4 year olds may claim the premium for its eligible children. This includes schools, nursery schools, day nurseries, playgroups and childminders.

  1. Which children are eligible?

It is estimated that there are 1325 eligible children in Walsall.

Children are eligible if their parents are in receipt of any of these benefits:

  • Income Support
  • Income-based Jobseekers Allowance
  • Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
  • Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
  • Guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
  • Child Tax Credit (provided families 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 families stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit)
  • Universal credit

In addition, a child will be eligible if they have been looked after by the local authority for at least one day or have been adopted from care or they have left care under a special guardianship order or residence order.

  1. How will we know if children are eligible?

Providers must ask parents to submit their National Insurance number and date of birth in order to apply for Early Years Pupil Premium.

This information has to be input on to the Early Years Pupil Premium Excel spreadsheet. This must be password protected and sent to . The password must be sent in a separate e-mail.

The local authority will undertake checks and notify providers and Schools Finance of which children are eligible. Checks only need to be undertaken once a year per child.

  1. How much funding will the setting receive?

Schools and settings will receive up to £300 per year for each eligible child who accesses 570 hours. The confirmed hourly rate is 53 pence. Funding will be allocated to providers based on the number of free hours each child attends. This funding will be additional to nursery education funding and deprivation supplements settings may receive.

Number of eligible children / 4 / 8 / 20
Setting will receive / £1200 / £2400 / £6000

This funding will be paid as a supplement to hourly funding.

An indicative allocation figure will be provided at the beginning of the financial year in order that spending plans can be put in place.

An estimate of the number of eligible children will inform the indicative allocation for each term. A payment will be made at the beginning of the term which will represent 70% of the indicative allocation. This will be subject to a reconciliation to reflect the actual hours taken up by eligible children.

Childminders will be paid their Early Years Pupil Premium following receipt of confirmed provision being made to an eligible child.

  1. What can the funding be used for?

Each provider can decide how to utilise the funding in order to ensure best outcomes for the children in their care. There are a number of case studies in the “Pupil Premium Guide for Walsall Schools” document.

Providers will be expected to evidence outcomes as a result of the funding allocated and this will be assessed as part of the Ofsted inspection. Providers will need to track progress of children so impact can be measured. Ofsted are clear however that Early Years Pupil Premium will form part of their existing inspection framework.

From 2016 the census will request information on numbers of children receiving the Early Years Pupil Premium at each setting. Settings may be required to make available/show evidence of spend in relation to Early Years Pupil Premium.

  1. Looked after children

The Early Years Pupil Premium for looked after children will be managed by the Virtual School. In each setting there should be a designated teacher/practitioner who leads on the completing of a comprehensive Personal Education Plan (PEP). In order for the funding to be released to the setting the PEP must demonstrate how it will be used to narrow the gap between the looked after child and their peers

  1. What do schools and settings need to do now?
  • Contact parents of children already in your setting who may be eligible from April 2015. There are examples of letters and forms that you can adapt for your own setting
  • Agree a process for parents to follow when they start nursery in September 2015
  • Plan how you will use the funding
  1. Useful links

DfE Guidance for local authorities

DfE examples of documents

Pupil Premium Guide for Walsall Schools

Early Years Pupil Premium for looked after children

  1. Any queries?

Please e-mail in the first instance so that we can identify the best way to resolve your query.

Use of the premium

Nicola Hart, School Ready/ Early Years Lead Adviser

Finance queries

Lesley Copeland, Finance Officer

Looked after children

Balwant Bains,Virtual School Headteacher

Any other queries

Jenny Mander, Planning and Performance, Early Years