Expansion of the Early Years Entitlements

Childcare Expansion Funding

As part of the government's transformative reforms to childcare, from September 2025 working parents will be able to access 30 hours of funded provision, for 38 weeks a year, from the term after their child is 9 months old to when they start school. As a Local Authority, Nottingham City Council has a statutory duty under The Childcare Act (2006) to ensure there are high quality, sufficient and sustainable childcare places.  The Department for Education (DfE) has allocated funding to local authorities to support the local delivery of these reforms. 

In Nottingham City, capital funding is being made available to schools and childcare providers through a grant allocation programme to support the creation of new or additional early years entitlements places.  The DfE estimates that there will be a shortfall of approximately 1,570 places for children under the age of 3, based on the number of registered places currently available and population estimates.  

Nottingham City Council received a capital allocation of £490,743 to support the expansion of provision for children under 3 with the introduction of the new early years entitlements and to support wraparound childcare for primary school aged children. National guidance suggested an approximate allocation split of 80% for Early Years Entitlements place creation and 20% for Wraparound Childcare place creation.  As such, Nottingham City has allocated £423,900 capital available to support the expansion of the early years entitlements for children under 3 in identified priority wards.

For full information on this funding opportunity please refer to:

• Application Guidance Notes (Updated January 2025)
• Application Form (Updated January 2025)

Completed applications and supporting documentation must be submitted by the deadline dates in the Guidance Notes to earlyyearsexpansion@nottinghamcity.gov.uk 

Potential applicants are invited to attend a free, online Briefing Session on applying for Childcare Expansion Funding.  For more information, please click here.

For any questions, please speak to your EYFS Support Worker in the first instance or email the above contact email.

Childcare Works Resources to support Providers - the Early Years Toolkit and the HUB

Childcare Works have recently launched a new ‘Early Years Toolkit’ Early Years Toolkit | from Childcare Works.  It has been curated by experts to bring together everything you need to grow, sustain or start, your childcare provision.  It is designed for all types of providers at any stage of their journey.  Whether you are just starting out, are sustaining your provision, or growing, you will find informative, relevant content.

The volume of information available to support providers can be overwhelming.  The purpose of this toolkit is to bring this wealth of knowledge together in one place.  It contains information specific to operating childcare provision, plus more general information for businesses, childminders and charities, including expert marketing, HR and leadership and management, partnership working and much, much more.  

Content is organised into six ‘topics’:

• Business Planning
• Business Growth
• Running of Your Childcare Provision
• Leadership and Management
• Partnership Working
• SEND and Inclusive Practice

Each topic contains sub-topics to make finding relevant content easy.  To support the different needs of providers Childcare Works  Childcare Works - childcareworks.org.uk have included information in a range of formats such as guides, learning, toolkits, templates, articles, case studies and much more.  Each resource included in the toolkit is available without cost. 

Access the Early Years Toolkit here:  Early Years Toolkit | from Childcare Works

In addition, Childcare Works have also created resources, tools and guidance in response to sector needs, and these can all be found in the HUB; a one-stop shop for all roll-out resources including good practice guidance, case studies, upcoming events and more to support providers.

Find out more at https://childcareworks.org.uk/

The early years entitlements aspects of these reforms are being phased in to allow providers time to prepare.  The key headlines around the expansion of the existing entitlements are;

• From April 2024, working parents of 2-year-olds will be able to access 15 hours childcare
• From September 2024, 15 hours childcare will be extended to all children from the age of 9 months and national wraparound support begins over 2 academic years to enable schools and local areas to set up wraparound childcare provision either side of the school day, so that parents of school-age children can access childcare in their local area from 8am – 6pm, with the expectation that by September 2026, most primary schools will be able to offer their own before and after school care.
• From September 2025, introduction of 30 hours for all working parents of children from 9 months to primary school age.