Early Education Funding
There is a wide range of funding available to families. Early Years Funding is a government scheme which offers funded childcare hours with an Ofsted registered provider.
Current Funding available at Truly Scrumptious Nurseries;
- FEEE 3 &4- Universal Funding for 3&4 year olds (15 hours)
- FEE2- Funding for two year olds (15 hours)
- FEEE1w- Funding for working parents for children from 9 months (30 hours)
- FEE2w- Funding for working parents for children from 2 years (30 hours)
From September 2025, eligible children from 9 months will be able to receive 30 hours funded childcare per week.
Stretched offer
We are full time day nursery open for 51 weeks of the year which means we offer the “stretched offer” for the funding, calculated as the following;
- 15 hours of funded childcare over 38 weeks (term time) equates to 570 funded childcare hours per year. This equates to 11 hours per week over 51 weeks of the year.
- 30 hours of funded childcare over 38 weeks (term time) equates to 1,140 funded childcare hours per year. This equates to 22 hours per week over 51 weeks of the year.
All parents/carers accessing funding will need to complete and sign a parental declaration form.
2-year old funding
This is an eligibility-based funding for up to 570 hours of free childcare a year effective from the term following the child’s 2nd birthday. Applications for 2-year-old funding are made via the local authority, and places can only be allocated once eligibility has been confirmed. Eligibility is confirmed by the local authority that the provider is based within and then claimed and paid directly to the nursery.]
You will be eligible to claim for 2-year funding if you receive one of the following benefits:
- Income support
- Income-based jobseekers’ allowance
- Income-related employment and support allowance
- Universal credit, and your household income is £15,400 per annum or less after tax
- Child tax credits, and your household income is £16,190 per annum or less before tax
- The guaranteed element of pension credit
- The working tax credit 4-week run (the payment you get when you stop qualifying for working tax credit)
2-year-olds can also receive funding if they:
- Are looked after by a local authority
- Have a statement of special educational need (SEND), or an educational, health and care plan (EHCP)
- Receive DAF (Disability Allowance)
- Have left care under a special guardianship order, child arrangements order or adoption order
In addition to this, we will also consider applications for children where the council has received a Section 23 Notification from Health/Paediatrician
Universal 15 Hours Entitlement:
Regulation for the universal 15 Hours Entitlement funding requires us to validate your child’s age to confirm eligibility. If your child was born on or between the:
• 1st April and the 31st August he/she will become eligible from 1st September following his/her third birthday
• 1st September and 31st December, he/she will become eligible from 1st January following his/her third birthday
• 1st January and 31st March, he/she will become eligible from 1St April following his/her third birthday
You will be asked to provide personal information to verify this information. The setting will require to see:
• A copy of birth certificate or passport of the child.
• Both parents’ National insurance numbers & dates of birth
• Proof of address dated within the last 3 months before claim
Extended Early Education Funding (30 hours)
The government only entitles parents/legal guardians who meet the eligibility requirements (e.g. income requirements) to the extended 30 Hours Entitlement. If you are eligible, you will need to apply for and obtain a 30 hour code via your childcare service account. We will validate your 30 hours code with the local authority using your child’s date of birth, 30 hours code and the parents/ guardians National Insurance number and dates of births. We will ask for your 30 hours validation code and national insurance number for both parents when you register. By proving this information, you are giving us consent to validate your 30 hours code. Parents / guardians are also required to validate the codes every 3 months via the Gov account.
Funding at the nursery
Your receipt of EEE 30 hours funding Entitlement is subject to our receipt of the government funding from the local authority. We reserve the right to make changes with immediate effect to this agreement and/or our offer of funding Entitlement to you. If the local authority does not pay the government funding to us for any reason or there are changes to the amount of government funding, we receive.
Setting and Attendance details
Regulation allows your child to attend a maximum of two sites in a single day and if your child attends more than one setting the funding will be split between the settings. You will be asked to provide the following information for the nursery your child attends, nursery name, entitlement hours attended per day, total number of hours per week and total number of weeks per year (38/51). By signing a parental declaration, you are confirming where you use your funded hours. It is your responsibility to only use the hours you are entitled to. If the LA advise the setting, you are over claiming your hours, you will receive an immediate charge for the hours used at our hourly rate. If this is not paid immediately, your place will be withdrawn.
Disability Access Fund Declaration
Three-and four-year old children who receive a child Disability Living Allowance and Free Entitlement may be eligible for the Disability Access Fund (DAF). Please see https://www.gov.uk/disability-living-allowance-children/overview. The local authority pays DAF directly to the nursery setting as a fixed annual rate per eligible child. If applicable, please contact your local nursery for more information.
Privacy notice
To provide EEE 30 hours funded Entitlement to you, regulation requires us to share information related to your child and his/her care with the relevant local authority and/or the department for Education. The information shared may include information relation to your child’s gender, age, attendance/absences, disabilities, or any other information required under regulation.
Additional hours/ costings
Early Years Funding is intended to cover the delivery of childcare provided only. It does not cover the cost of meals, snacks, consumables, additional services or additional hours.
We are mindful of the impact of additional charges on parents/carers and will work with families to arrive at a suitable agreement.
We charge an optional fee of £3.50 per meal (lunch and dinner) on fully funded sessions, if the parent does not want their child to have the meals provided by the nursery, then the parents can collect the child for lunch and return after 1 hour. Due to the high number of allergies and intolerances within the children at nursery, we are unable to accept packed lunches or any food from outside the nursery.
For children accessing the working parent funding, there is a consumable charge of £7.00 for each session. Below is a list of some examples of what the fees contributes to, this is not an exhaustive list.
These charges fall within our “Enrichment Package” which offers the below enhanced provision, which your child will automatically receive upon receipt of funding.
There is an option to opt out of this and choose the “funded hours only” package- which in turn offers only basic provision and none of the below extras.
Enrichment
- Extra-Curricular activities
- French and Spanish language lessons
- Baby ballet
- Baby/child yoga
- Yearly events;
- Graduation Ceremony (graduation gifts, certificates, decor and party)
- Easter egg hunts (every child receives an easter egg, easter egg hunts organised, visit from the easter bunny)
- Christmas Parties & Christmas dinner, Christmas photoshoot, visit from Father Christmas- each child receives a present
- Special celebrations;
- Mother’s Day
- Father’s Day
- Cultural Festivals
- World Book Day
- Pancake Day
- VE Day
- Trips and outings;
- Trips to the park
- Trips to local supermarket
- Trips to the Library
- Weather appropriate clothing- sunhats and waterproof overalls
Regulatory and Compliance costs
- DSB Checks
- Every member of staff undergoes Paediatric First Aid Training
- Annual PAT testing
- Fire Equipment and regular checks
- Ofsted
Premises and Resources
- Educational toys, books and learning resources to enrich your childs experience
- FAMLY online learning journals
- Security System- CCTV
- Cleaning contracts
- Rent, utilities and maintenance
Food and Drink
- Meeting individual dietary requirements and allergies
- Offering a low-sugar menu that follows the government healthy eating nutrition guidelines
- Professional development of nursery chefs food and hygiene requirements
- Catering supplies- cups, plates, cutlery etc
As we are only permitted to give a maximum allowance of 10 hours funding per day (as per our contract with the local authority) If your child attends 2 full days using the 30 hours funding (22 hours stretched), there will be a charge of £7.54 per day for the additional hour as the Nursery is open for 11 hours (Romford) 10.5 hours (Ongar- making the hourly fee £7.90)
15 hour funding is split over x2 half day sessions (5.5 hrs sessions each)
Tax- Free Childcare
Tax- Free childcare is a UK government initiative designed to help working parents with the cost of childcare. For every 80p you pay in, the government will top up an extra 20p. This is equivalent of the tax most people pay per annum.
You can get up to £500 every 3 months (up to £2,000 a year) of each of your children to help with the costs of childcare.
You will need to set up an online childcare account for your child, visit https://www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare to set up an account and for more information. Your eligibility depends on:
- If you are working (employed, self-employed, or both)
- Your income (and your partner’s income, if you have one)
- Your child’s age and circumstances
- Your immigration status
Policy reviewed September 2025
Recent Comments