Consultation on early years funding in England focuses on SEND and disadvantage
The Department for Education (DfE) have today launched a consultation on proposed changes to the early years funding system. It runs until 14 September 2026.
The Department for Education has published updated Statutory guidance for local authorities on the provision of early education and childcare which will apply from 1 April 2025. See in particular the section on charging (A1.32-A1.44).
Following a recent High Court judgement, the changes reaffirm that:
New provisions in the guidance include that:
It has also updated the model agreement template and the parental declaration form for the funded early education entitlements.
These changes are effectively a tightening up of existing requirements to ensure the entitlements are free at the point of use and to ensure that families who cannot afford to pay are not excluded, but it fails to address the gap between funding rates and actual costs which the government’s own research shows to be a widespread issue. We know many of our members already do their utmost to ensure that families in greatest need can access their full entitlement, and ensure that charges are transparent and voluntary.
Other updates to the guidance also reflect changes to Ofsted inspection judgements for state schools inspected after 2 September 2024 and clarify the eligibility criteria for 2-year-olds, for both entitlements.
The government has also confirmed that:
The Department for Education (DfE) have today launched a consultation on proposed changes to the early years funding system. It runs until 14 September 2026.
We welcome the announcement from the Department for Education confirming details of the grant being made available to local authorities to cover the cost of
We welcome the most recent steps in delivery of the government’s Best Start in Life strategy, focused on helping to raise the quality of provision
A recent survey reveals that many of England’s 376 maintained nursery schools face severe financial struggles. By 2025-26, 35% expect deficits for the year, while
The Secretary of State, Bridget Phillipson MP, has written to the Chief Executive of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to request that the CMA
The Department for Education has today released its long awaited Schools White Paper (Every Child Achieving and Thriving) and its SEND reform consultation (closes 18
We recently sought clarification of the funding guidance relating to payment of quality supplements to maintained nursery schools (MNS) in England, following a question as
We’re pleased to confirm that after extensive lobbying from Early Education, the DfE has extended eligibility for the School-based Nursery (SBN) Capital Grant Funding to
A survey of maintained nursery schools (MNS) in England carried out by early years charity Early Education in association with education unions the NAHT and
Government has today announced that free school meals (FSM) in England will be extended to all children in families receiving Universal Credit, including those on
HMRC has provided guidance for early years providers on their eligibility to claim employment allowance. This confirms that settings which are currently eligible to claim
The Department for Education has published its early years funding allocations for local authorities for 2025-26, including increasing Early Years Pupil Premium from 68p to
If you read the government’s guidance on applying for capital funding to open or expand nursery provision, you could be forgiven for thinking setting up
The National Audit Office’s new report, Improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged children, finds that in 2023-24, DfE allocated an estimated £9.2 billion to specifically focus
The letter below sets out our key asks for the next government.
On 10 June, Labour announced their plans for “over three thousand new nursery classes across England to open up access to childcare hours for families”,
The Conservative Manifesto has promised to extend Family Hubs to all local authorities. This would both extend funding for the 75 local authorities where they
The Lib Dems have published their manifesto, including commitments to incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into UK law and to
Today, Friday 17 May, the Early Education and Childcare Coalition (EECC) has launched its new manifesto, with proposals to rescue and reform England’s early education
A report published by the National Audit Office (NAO) today finds that the timetable for the roll-out of the new funded early education and childcare
In response to recent queries about why the latest DfE guidance on providing the early education and childcare entitlements has removed references to additional charges
DfE have issued an update to address the issue of parents wishing to claim their codes for the new entitlements who cannot do so because
DfE has today launched a consultation on the new funding rates which will apply for 2-year-olds and under 2s when the new entitlements are introduced
The Department for Education has today announced that the extra £204m for early years announced in the budget will be allocated to local authorities as
DfE has issued slightly more detail about the planned uplift in the hourly rates for the current and new entitlements, following the announcements in the
In today’s budget the Chancellor has confirmed several new measures on early education and childcare: Our analysis The decision to relax the ratios for 2-year-olds
Today, Early Education, the NAHT, NEU and Unison have jointly written an open letter calling on the government to address the shortfall in early years
Today, teachers from the National Education Union are striking, including many working in nursery and reception classes. In the last week, the Department for Education
The government’s latest changes to the early years funding formulae bring two key changes which we pointed out in our response to the consultation would
DfE have today announced the early years funding settlement for 2023-24, which leaves the early years sector struggling on below inflationary increases. While an additional
In his Autumn Statement today the Chancellor failed to offer any financial help to an early years sector which is already struggling to stay afloat.
The tenth early years minister in ten years, Kelly Tolhurst, is now in post. It’s good news that early years is part of a Minister
We urge members to respond to the two DfE consultations on funding and ratios which close on 16 September. For information, you can view the
