Providing Early Years Funded Entitlement (EYFE)

You will need to complete claim submissions and other forms on the Online Provider Portal (OPP).

Once per term, you will need to:

• submit an estimate - this is optional and allows you to receive 70% of your funding prior to actuals
• ensure parents accessing EYFE with you for the upcoming term have completed and returned a parent declaration form plus any additional contracts before headcount day (see below section on 'Where can I find copies of the parent declaration form?'
• verify EYFE for working families codes using the eligibility checker
• submit actuals, including EYPP
• complete a Termly Provider update form
• complete your termly sufficiency update

Once per year, you will need to:

• complete the annual early years census form in the early Spring term
• complete the provider declaration form in March to renew your agreement to the EYFE provider declaration

You may also need to:

• apply for Disability Access Fund for eligible children (maximum once per year per child at one provider)
• submit a request for Inclusion Funding
• submit staff changes to update us on information regarding the providers main contact and users for the OPP

For full details of the duties and responsibilities of EYFE providers, please see the EYFE provider declaration above.

All children, including those accessing only Universal EYFE

Providers must confirm that they have seen the original of a child’s birth certificate or passport and record the number on the parent declaration form.

Providers are responsible for verifying that the child is age-eligible for the EYFE they wish to claim for. For 3 and 4 year olds accessing Universal EYFE, no further verification is required.

Children awarded 2 year old LA Issued EYFE

2 year olds who meet certain criteria can be approved by the local authority to access up to 15 hours per week of EYFE. Children approved by:

• West Sussex County Council (WSCC) will receive a letter confirming when children can begin accessing EYFE, and a six-digit numerical code
• a local authority other than WSCC will still have received a confirmation letter or email. However, parents will need to provide you with a copy, which you must forward to us at free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk so that we may verify the child’s eligibility and accept any subsequent claims from you for this child

Children awarded EYFE for working families

Parents approved for EYFE for working families must renew their code every three months. This means you must check eligibility for EYFE for working families for each child each term using the ad hoc eligibility checker, both before the child starts their funded place, and prior to each subsequent term.

When checking, you will be able to see the eligibility code’s start date, end date and grace period.

Start date is when the code was issued (applied via the HMRC application process), but this is not the date that a child can access their funding. The start date of a code must always be before 31 of March, August or December in order to access the term that follows. For example, codes must have a start date on or before 31 March in order to be able to access EYFE for working families in the Summer term.

End date is the date a parent needs to reconfirm their code by. The code enters its grace period the day after.

Grace period is the period of time where a code is still able to be used to access funding. It can only be used if a funded place has already been accessed and only with the provider it was used with. The code is valid at the child’s current provider up until the grace period end date.

Grace period end date is the potential date that the child could be funded up to, if they fall out of eligibility, such as if the parents’ working hours change. It is important to note the code can only be used during its grace period if the child is already accessing a funded place with you.

3 and 4 year old children who fall out of eligibility for accessing EYFE for working families will be unable to continue accessing Extended EYFE but can still access Universal EYFE. 2 year olds awarded EYFE for working families cannot continue unless eligibility is reconfirmed at a later date, or they are awarded 2 year old LA Issued EYFE.

Claims are submitted to us electronically using the Online Provider Portal only. You will be given access to the correct functions within the portal at the point of approval. Portal help guides and instructional videos are provided to help you to claim.

You are responsible for submitting your claims on time. The weekly Early Years and Childcare newsletter email provides a reminder to make your claim - contact us if your provider is not receiving it.

• Parent declaration form 2024/25 (Word, 127KB)
• Parent declaration form 2024/25 (PDF, 331KB)

This must always be up to date and any changes, including alterations to hours, must be confirmed by completing a new copy of the parent declaration form. This is especially important where the child is claiming EYFE at more than one provider.

Please retain copies of the declaration form at your provider for the current financial year (April to March), plus 2 years from completion date.

If we have any issues when processing claims, we will request that you send in a copy. Otherwise, there is no need to send us a copy unless you wish to apply for the Disability Access Fund.

The Online Provider Portal (OPP) is the only method of data collection. Please contact us as soon as possible if you require login details to be re-sent or reset for you.

Please take into account when a child is attending more than one provider or if a child’s yearly allowance is close to being used up in their third or sixth funding period. Please remember the yearly allowance can be different for each child and is determined by when the child becomes of eligible age.

We recommend you retain a record of the child level hours (per week and number of weeks) that you used to calculate an estimate, which will assist you later when you are required to submit actuals.

If a child has taken up a school place, even on a part-time basis, they are no longer eligible to claim EYFE.

Late returns will jeopardise prompt payment.

Returns received after the deadline will be actioned when all payments for prompt returns have been completed.

If you choose to submit an estimate claim, we pay 70% of the estimate up front and at the beginning of the term. This is followed by a reconciled balance paid based on the Actuals headcount (child-level) return. Please take this into account in your cash flow forecast and planning of expenditure throughout each term.

To claim an estimate, you submit the total number of EYFE hours expected to be claimed in headcount week only. Our system will automatically calculate the estimated total number of EYFE hours for the term. You must ensure that this figure is as accurate as possible, and this only applies to children who will be eligible for EYFE.

Estimate payments are based on the school terms, which are:

• Spring and Summer terms: 12 weeks
• Autumn term: 14 weeks

If you are open for more weeks, do not amend the number of weeks at estimate stage. You will have the opportunity to amend when submitting Actuals (child-level) data. Instead, calculate the correct figure to submit by using the method below.

Guidance is available on our Online Provider Portal pages.

This is where you submit your child-level Actuals data. You are able to view all children on your headcount that have been taken from the previous term’s headcount and only includes those children who are still of eligible age to claim EYFE.

You must ensure that all details are correct for each child and complete all details and weeks/hours as appropriate. All hours will be shown as zero to enable you to do this and minimise the risk of incorrect claims.

The School Admissions team use this data for children about to start school. The ethnicity information and number of unfunded hours per week is particularly important for the Department for Education Early Years census.

You must remove any children who have left your provider, whether to go to school or for other reasons. We will follow this up and re-claim funding made for any false claims.

If you do not have any eligible children to claim EYFE for this term, please email free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk stating you have no eligible children at present.

Guidance is available on our Online Provider Portal pages.

Please note that you will only be able to enter Actuals data on-line for children who are attending your provider on headcount day. If you wish to request funding for children who start after this date, see our Children requesting a place after headcount web page.

There are three different ways you can claim EYFE.

Standard claim over 38 weeks or less

Funding will be paid over the standard number of weeks as set in the provider declaration clause 4.28. If a child’s claim differs from this, you must also change the ‘Weeks attended in term’ field for all applicable children.

Examples of when you will need to do this include if you are open for less weeks, or if a child does not have enough entitlement remaining. Refer to the EYFE provider declaration for more information on delivering EYFE over 38 weeks or less.

Stretched funding over more than 38 weeks

If you are stretching the funding using the reduced weekly hours method, you must ensure that the ‘Weeks attended in term’ field is accurate for all children. If you do not change this, we will have no option but to assume you are making a claim over the standard number of weeks according to ‘Standard’ above.

Self-stretched funding over more than 38 weeks

If you are stretching the funding according to an arrangement between yourself and the parent, please complete the headcount form using the instructions for a 38-week provider as per ‘Standard’ above. If we need further details, we will request a copy of the parent declaration.

Refer to the EYFE provider declaration for more information on how to claim EYFE as a standard, stretched, or self-stretched claim.

Children awarded 2 year old LA Issued EYFE can start at any point in the term. If they start after headcount, you will not be able to submit a claim via Actuals. Instead, you must visit our web page on Requesting funding after headcount to submit a Post-headcount/exceptional payment request.

You can also submit a Post-headcount/exceptional payment request for other children in exceptional circumstances. Refer to the EYFE provider declaration and the web page for more information.

Submission deadlines, headcount date and help guides on how to submit both estimate and actuals EYFE claims (including EYPP and DAF) can be found on our Online Provider Portal guidance pages and in our weekly Early Years and Childcare newsletter. Please ensure you are receiving the newsletter, and contact us if you are not.

To order hard copies for your provision, please email free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk stating the number required and the name and address for delivery.

A digital version of the leaflet is also available if you wish to share it with parents via email or other communications.

• Privacy notice for parents accessing Early Years and Childcare provision