This document aims to give an overview of how the funding process works and what to expect. If you need specific help or advice on how to complete your claim form, please have a look here. Or you can also contact the Early Years Funding Team for guidance.

The funding process within Buckinghamshire for claiming and payment of Early Years Funded Entitlement works in twice termly/funding period cycles. The dates for when you should submit your claim, and when payment will be made for each cycle, is contained with the published Funding Timetable applicable to the academic year. To access this information, please use this link.

Termly funding periods run as follows:

The funding period dates are fixed – this means that the weeks you claim funding for in each period must fall between these dates.

For each funding period, you will be asked to submit a provisional claim prior to the start of the funding period, and then a final claim once the funding period starts.

Both claims cover the whole term/funding period. The difference between them is that the provisional claim is your estimate of the funding you need to claim for the term, with the final claim being the confirmed funding you need to claim, based on the attendance of the children once the funding period starts. The provisional claim is not for the first half of the term and the final for the second half.

Provisional claim

Just after the half-term point in any term, you will be sent the provisional claim form for the following term/funding period. On this claim form, you should record the children you believe will be attending with you in the upcoming term, along with the hours the parent has agreed on your Parent Provider Agreement (PPA).

If there are any children who were funded with you in the previous term, they will already have their identifying details populated on this form.

• For children continuing with you, you will need enter the number of weeks and hours they are going to be attending/claiming with you in the upcoming term.
• If they are no longer going to be accessing funding with you, you should record a leaving date and do not complete any fields for weeks or hours.

There are also blank fields to allow you to add new children who will be accessing funding with you.

Before adding any children to your claim, you should ensure the following:

• that you have seen evidence of both their legal name and date of birth, as you will need to be satisfied that the child meets the age range for funding for the term, and that their legal name is recorded on your form (even if they also have a preferred name that is used for the child).
• If their funding is dependent on the parent having an eligible working parent code, you should also ensure that their code has been checked and on your eligibility code checking portal and that it meets the validity requirements for the term. Further information about how to use the portal is available here and help about Working Parent Eligibility Codes and checking validity is available here.

Once your provisional claim is submitted and processed, a payment of 50% of the term’s funding will be made. The payment for the whole term is calculated by multiplying the termly hours recorded for each child on the provisional claim by the hourly funding rate for the applicable funding stream for children at your setting (including any amount for Early Years Pupil Premium where applicable). Half of this calculated amount is then paid.

• If you have opted to receive twice termly payments, this payment will be made as one payment, just before the start of the next term, in line with the funding timetable for twice termly payments.
• If you have opted to receive monthly payments, the payment will be split into two equal payments and paid on dates in line with the funding timetable for monthly payments.

Final claim

Once the term/funding period starts, you will be sent a final claim form for the term. This claim form should reflect the actual position for the children attending with you at the start of term and confirms the funding you wish to claim for the term.

Any children who had a claim recorded on your provisional claim form will have their identifying details populated on this form. You will need to confirm attendance and complete the hours and weeks you are claiming for these children or enter a leaving date if they are not accessing funding with you.  

As with the provisional claim, new children, who do not appear already, can be added.

The final payment each term/funding period, based on your final claim, is a balancing payment. The payment for the whole term is calculated by multiplying the termly hours recorded for each child on the final claim by the hourly funding rate for the applicable funding stream for children at your setting (including any amount for Early Years Pupil Premium where applicable). This gives the total overall funding that is due for the term.

Where a provisional payment has already been made, this is then deducted from the total and a final payment of the balance is made.

• If you have opted to receive twice termly payments, your final payment will be made as one payment, at the end of the half-term break in the term, in line with the funding timetable for twice termly payments.
• If you have opted to receive monthly payments, the payment will be split into two equal payments and paid on dates in line with the funding timetable for monthly payments.

If, for any reason, your final claim shows that the funding due for the whole term/funding period is lower than the provisional payment already made, a recovery of funding will need to be made. This can sometimes be made through an offset to a future term’s payment or, where this is not possible, an invoice will be raised to allow repayment.

If you have marked any children as eligible for Disability Access Funding (DAF) on your final claim form, payment of this will be included with your final payment. You will need to have provided evidence of the child’s DLA award to receive the payment. This should be done by uploading a copy of the DLA award letter through AnyComms (the secure file transfer site). If DAF has already been claimed for the child in one of the previous 2 terms, you will need to wait until the termly anniversary of the payment to claim it again, as it is an annual award.

Changes after the final claim has been submitted for the term

If you have changes to make to your claim after your final claim has been submitted and processed for the term you can do this by submitting a claim adjustment form. Please see here for further details of what circumstances may require a claim adjustment to be submitted, along with access to the downloadable claim adjustment form.