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:
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/
There are lots of things Providers can be undertaking in preparation for the expansion in the early years entitlements:
- Work with your families to get an idea of potential demand
- Keep an eye out for Childcare Sufficiency Assessment updates and supply and demand data in your local area
- Identify how many staff members you will need to meet local demand and consider your plan for recruiting (Don't forget to list your job adverts for free as part of the 'Do Something Big' Campaign)
- Begin to upskill your existing workforce to be ready to support new staff. Our latest CPD opportunities can be found here.
- Identify barriers in expansion for your provision and look for potential solutions and who can help, do speak to your EYFS Support Worker in the Early Years Team if you need support with this
- Look at the Childcare Works resources available
- Share information about your expansion plans with existing and potential families, also signposting them to the Childcare Choices website.
Information for parents/carers about the expanding entitlements can also be found on ASKLiON.
You can also check out https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/upcoming-changes-to-childcare-support/ for the latest information from the government on the changes to this childcare support.
