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The Kent Provider Agreement states that ‘providers must publish their charges clearly in a transparent fee structure’ (para 13.9) so you must make sure that parents are fully aware of how you offer the free entitlement and account for any charges made.
Providers should review the Kent Provider Agreement in full to ensure their fees and policy are compliant with all the conditions.
The points below can be used for you to review your current communications and strengthen any areas as needed.
Detail the various funding options that you accept – these could be:
KCC have an informative page detailing the various qualifying criteria.
Consider adding the link to Childcare Choices so parents can see if their child/ren are eligible. One code is needed per individual child.
Remind parents that it is their responsibility to renew their eligibility codes as required otherwise the child’s funding could cease.
The policy must outline when the free entitlement is made available – this is known as the ‘pattern of delivery’.
This may be a flexible pattern throughout the day/week, it can vary to meet individual parent’s needs or their existing arrangements. Settings sometimes specify fixed funding patterns such as 9-12pm five days a week and any additional hours are chargeable.
If your pattern is flexible, state the days and hours the funding can be used at your setting, for example, Monday to Friday, between 8am and 6pm, for a maximum of 10 hours per day, with a maximum of 15/30 hours per week.
Funding can be made available at weekends or on bank holidays if you wish – this sometimes helps shift workers.
The core pattern is to offer 570 hours of funding (based on child eligible for 15 hours per week) per year – this is specified by KCC for 38 weeks per year as:
You may choose to offer stretched funding and make the funding available for more weeks of the year:
*Note that stretched funding of 12 hours per week for 48 weeks per year will result in a total of 576 hours being provided so six hours will need to be funded by the parents as the free entitlement is for 570 hours per year (based on an entitlement of 15 hours per week).
Are your term dates clearly communicated to parents. Are parents clear on how their full hours are made available? The sample calendar, found on Kelsi (scroll to find both a 38 and 48 week calendar template), can be shared with parents so they can track their own hours.
Include if funding is made available term time only or can be stretched for more weeks of the year. Settings can offer both (term time or stretched) depending on family’s needs.
Include information about bank holidays or any expected leave or holiday you have planned, and how any missed funding hours will be replaced to ensure every child receives their full entitlement. Also add information regarding when a child is absent, ill, or days parents choose to not send child in (for a holiday for example). Include how you manage a prolonged absence (consider your safeguarding responsibilities).
Include what would happen should your setting is closed unexpectedly and are unable to open (due to sickness, accident, incident). Explain how you would make up any missed funded sessions.
Children must attend during the designated headcount week and written evidence from parents is required if their child is absent that week explaining the reason for absence.
The set KCC funding rate does not include food, snacks, drinks and outings. Parents can be asked for a payment to cover the costs of these.
Consumables such as sun cream, nappies and entry fees or transport costs can also be charged for. See paragraph 13.4 within the Provider Agreement.
When any additional monetary contributions are requested from parents for extras and/or consumables the policy must detail what these are for and what are the charge/s?
There cannot and must not be a ‘top-up’ charge applied to an invoice when the KCC rate is below the settings usual hourly rate. Additionally, there cannot be any ‘credit’ from funding payments given to parents, for example, when the rate paid by the local authority exceeds your hourly fee.
A supplement or contribution can be requested from parents but must not be made a condition of them accessing the government funding. An explanation of what is included and costs must be included within the funding policy.
Do you include information regarding how parents who are unable to or refuse to pay any charges, will be offered totally free funded hours?
Any additional hours charged for, such as during school holidays or extra days, must have a separate agreement for this. Show the hourly or daily rate for these so parents can make an informed choice. The separate agreement would include information regarding any notice periods and/or deposits applied.
You may also wish to include information regarding what happens to the funding if a child leaves mid-term (the parent would need to pay the new provider should they join midterm as the allocation will have been confirmed at headcount).
A written invoice must be provided for parents that details the various charges and also show the funded hours that are provided for zero charge.
Explain that parents are required to complete and sign the Parental Declaration form accurately to authorise the provider to claim their child’s funding. Parents give their consent for the provider to check the eligibility of the codes provided.
The Parental Declaration form is signed prior to agreeing the hours and eligibility for each term (autumn, spring and summer).
Include if you are willing to split funding between settings and how the Parental Declaration form must include the information about the other setting/s days and hours. Parents can be requested to provide the details when they are using another setting for funded hours such as the hours claimed and a contact name so childminders can liaise with the other setting to prevent any potential over-claiming issues.
Does the policy include information about the Disability Access Fund (DAF) or Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP)? (This may be found with your separate SEND policy).
The Disability Access Fund (DAF) provides funding to support children with disabilities or special educational needs. The DAF aids access to early years places by, for example, supporting providers in making reasonable adjustments to their provision.
The Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) is available to those families who meet the economic or specific criteria. Further details are available on Kelsi.
An EYPP poster is also available which can be displayed for parents.
If you are using a template for your funding policy provided by your membership association, agency or other then ensure it meets all the requirements of the Kent Provider Agreement.
Ensure that parents have the contact information for Kent Children’s and Families Information Service (KCFIS) should they be dissatisfied with how the provider has operated the funding for their child – this information could be added to your complaints policy or included within the funding policy. Found within the Kent Provider Agreement paragraph 20.2.
The Kent Provider Agreement paragraph 4.6 states that providers must update their details with KCFIS at least 3 times per year.
If you have any queries or questions regarding funding or compliance, please contact your childminding adviser or email the childminding team. We are happy to help wherever possible.
