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Early years pupil premium

What is the early years pupil premium?

The early years pupil premium (EYPP) is additional funding for early years providers to improve outcomes for children by providing them with enhanced learning and development support. This means that for children from low income families accessing the Funded Early Education Entitlement (FEEE), providers are entitled to receive additional funding of up to £0.66 per hour. Providers should work in partnership with parents to carefully consider the learning and development needs of the child.

In order to benefit from this additional funding, we would encourage providers to check with parents accessing the FEEE whether they are on any of the benefits listed below, that are used to determine eligibility for free school meals. It is important to stress to parents that no other parents will know they have been assessed and it will not affect any other benefits they may be claiming as this is purely additional funding for providers to support children receiving the FEEE. You may use this template letter to notify parents about the EYPP.

  • 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 four weeks after they stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
  • Universal Credit - your household income must be less than £7,400 a year after tax, not including any benefits you get

If the parent confirms they are eligible for one or more of the benefits, they will need to enter the following details to the parent/carer agreement form. These details will then be entered on the 'Carer Details' tab of the child record on the provider portal at headcount. See the provider portal headcount and EYPP user guide. Any approved funding for EYPP will be added to the headcount payment for the term and the amount can be viewed in the Payment Report issued to you once payment has been made.

  • Parent's forename and surname
  • Parent's date of birth
  • National insurance number of qualifying parent, or
  • Asylum seeker reference number of qualifying parent

Providers can use the funding in a variety of ways, including:

  • Training, including cover staff
  • Increasing adult ratios
  • Specific intervention programmes such as small group activities
  • High quality activities such as developing language
  • Supporting additional needs or English as an additional language (EAL)
  • Targeted resources
  • Summer schemes. 

Accountability

The main accountability mechanism for the use of the EYPP will be through Ofsted inspection. Ofsted will update their inspection frameworks to set out that effective use and impact of the EYPP will be assessed under the leadership and management judgement. Ofsted will want to see evidence that a provider has considered how best to invest EYPP funding, how they expect to determine if the money improves a child's outcomes over the short and / or long term and any evidence available on impact already achieved.

Children in care

Children in care in the early years phase also attract the EYPP.

The Government has set an amount of £375 per child in care aged 3 years and 1 term to meet additional needs from the day they enter care. Providers receive a proportion of the pupil premium for each child in care based on the hours they accessed.

Please note: the early years pupil premium for children in care is not collected via headcount. The setting will be sent a letter from the Virtual School and asked to complete a Personal Education Plan.

What you need to do if you have a child in care aged three and over in your setting

If you have an Essex child in care in your setting, the Virtual School will contact you on a termly basis asking you to complete an Early Years Education Plan part 1 (EY PEP1). This form must be completed termly and returned to the Virtual School in order for the EYPP to be paid to your setting.

If you know you have a child in care in your setting and haven't received a letter from the Virtual School, please contact virtual.school@essex.gov.uk.

Children adopted from care

Providers may also claim EYPP for children that come under the heading of 'adopted from care'.

This category covers children who at some point were in the care of a local authority but subsequently left care because they were the subject of one of the following:

  • An Adoption Order
  • A Special Guardianship Order
  • A Residence Order / Child Arrangement Order

In order to claim this supplement you will need to email earlyearsdata@essex.gov.uk the details of the child. The Data team will check with colleagues in the Virtual School as to whether the child is adopted from care or not so they can then process the claim for EYPP.

Please note: it is up to the child's parent / guardian / carer to decide if they wish to self-declare that their child is the subject of one of the above orders.

Support

Our Business Management team is able to offer support, guidance and signposting with EYPP. Find contact details here.

Relevant resources

Early Years and Childcare:

Department for Education:

 

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