The Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) is additional funding for early years settings to improve the education they provide for children claiming Early Years Funded Entitlement (EYFE).
“The aim of the Early Years Pupil Premium is to close the gap between children from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers by providing funding to early years providers to help them raise the quality of their provision.”
(DfE Consultation)
The EYPP pays an additional 68p per hour per eligible child, this equates to just over £387 per child taking up their full 570 hours. Children do not need to take up their full EYFE to receive EYPP.
EYPP will be paid in proportion to the child’s actual EYFE hours. Note that EYPP will not be applied to Extended EYFE for 3 and 4 year olds; only the Universal EYFE will receive the additional EYPP funding.
From April 2024, EYPP will be applied to 2 year old EYFE LA issued and working families. From September 2024, EYPP will be applied to 9 month old EYFE for working families.
From September 2025, when the EYFE for working families expands to allow up to 30 hours per week, only the first half of the hours will have additional EYPP applied (up to a maximum of 15 hours).
Eligibility
Children will be eligible to claim EYPP if they meet at least one of the following criteria:
- Their family receives one 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 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, which is paid for 4 weeks after they stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
- Universal Credit if a parent is entitled to Universal Credit, they must have an annual net earned income equivalent to and not exceeding £7,400.
- They have been in local authority care for one 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 child arrangements order in England or Wales.
Identifying eligible children
Providers will be expected to gather the information required from parents in order for the local authority to check eligibility using the West Sussex County Council (WSCC) parent declaration form.
The information required is as follows:
- Parent/carer’s full legal name
- Parent/carer’s date of birth
- Parent/carer’s National Insurance (NI) number or National Asylum Support Service (NASS) number
- Parent/carer has provided evidence that the child has been in local authority care for one day or more in England or Wales (if applicable)
- Parent/carer has provided evidence proving the child has been adopted from local authority care, left care through a special guardianship order or is subject to a child arrangements order (if applicable).
For all children thought to be eligible for EYPP, providers will be asked to include this information on their headcount return through the online provider portal. Providers must tick the ‘EYPP’ consent box when submitting their claims.
Eligibility checking
We will use the DfE’s Eligibility Checking Service to check a child’s eligibility. For children who have been adopted from local authority care, left care through a special guardianship order or who are subject to a child arrangements order, parents/carers will be expected to show providers evidence of the court order that proves their eligibility.
We will check eligibility of children who have been in local authority care for one day or more in England or Wales.
All children found to be eligible will automatically have the EYPP funding paid against their EYFE hours (except for Extended EYFE). Providers will be able to see which children have attracted the funding through the online provider portal.
How the funding can be used
“Providers will use this funding most effectively where they have the flexibility to innovate and to spend it on the strategies that they think will be most effective.”
(DfE Consultation)
Whilst we can provide suggestions on how the EYPP could be spent in order to improve the achievement of early learning goals, the use of the funding will be considered by Ofsted as part of an inspection.
“During an inspection of an early years provider, Ofsted Inspectors will consider how well disadvantaged children make progress. Their inspection report will include a statement on the strategies that the provider has used to raise the attainment of disadvantaged children, and how the EYPP is used to support these strategies.”
(DfE Consultation)
We recommend that settings publish an EYPP policy or statement outlining their intentions of using the funding.
EYPP should follow the eligible child. If the child moves to a different provider part way through the year, the funding should therefore follow them along with their EYFE funding.
Further information
To claim EYPP follow the latest guidance on how to submit your Early Years Funded Entitlement actuals.