How childcare providers can offer the Early Years Free Entitlements (EYFE)

Early Years Free Entitlement (EYFE) statutory guidance

Providers should offer families their full Early Years Free Entitlement (EYFE), providing they have space available. We encourage providers to develop a flexible offer which supports both the learning and development of children and childcare needs of families.

EYFE is subject to the following standards:

no session is longer than 10 hours
there is no minimum session length - subject to requirements of registration on the Ofsted Early Years Register
no session runs before 6am or after 8pm
sessions run on a maximum of 2 sites in a single day

Register to offer EYFE in Brighton & Hove

We will fund places at any provider registered with us and with a ’good’ or ‘outstanding’ judgement from Ofsted.

We will fund places for children eligible for the universal 3 and 4 year old or working parent entitlements at any provider judged ‘requires improvement’ by Ofsted, but will only fund places for disadvantaged 2 year olds at settings judged less than good where there is not sufficient accessible 'good' or 'outstanding' provision.

Detailed information regarding who can offer EYFE can be found in Section 11 of the Early Years Free Entitlements provider agreement.

Term-time offer

Term-time only EYFE is up to 15 (or 30) hours across 38 weeks of the 3 school terms as follows:

Autumn term: 14 weeks x 15 (30) hours = 210 (420) hours
Spring term: 11 weeks x 15 (30) hours = 165 (330) hours
Summer term: 13 weeks x 15 (30) hours = 195 (390) hours

'Stretched' offer

Childcare providers who offer a ‘stretched’ entitlement (all year round including school holidays) can choose to claim via Synergy on a stretched funding basis.

The annual 570 hour (2 year old and universal 3 years and 4 years old) or 1,140 hour (extended 3 years and 4 years old) entitlement per child starts from the autumn term (so it will be calculated by Synergy from 1 September to 31 August).

Stretched entitlement guidance

Stretched funding within Synergy is operated at child level not provider, which means that the total claim for your setting can have both stretched and term-time only funded children.

It is possible for a child to move between stretched and term-time only offers (from term to term), as long as a child does not exceed their 570 (1,140) hour annual entitlement.

If a child is receiving any of the entitlements at more than one provider (either term-time or year round or a mixture of both) funding must be claimed (by each provider) on a term-time only basis, and ‘self-stretched’.

The following information is a summary of different patterns of provision that are typical within settings in Brighton & Hove.

Providers who are open all year round can offer to stretch the total 570 (1,140) hours to a maximum of 52 weeks.

For example:

51 weeks x 11 (22) hours (approximately)
50 weeks x 11.5 (23) hours (approximately)
47 weeks x 12 (24) hours (approximately)

This enables children to access their EYFE during school holidays.

When claiming ‘stretched’ funding via Synergy, you should enter the total number of weeks you stretch the entitlements each term and total number of stretched hours each week up to the maximum as described in your core offer submitted each academic year.

The funding details tab in your child records gives information about “maximum allowances” each term. These maximum allowances are overall parameters within the system to accommodate all types of stretches/offers and may not reflect your setting’s own specific offer.

Below is a table showing the number of stretched weeks each term according to each typical stretched offer.

Term	52 Stretch week	51 Stretch week	50 week stretch - this will vary according to when ‘non EYFE’ weeks are taken – the example shows 2 weeks at Christmas	47.5 or 48 week stretch - this will vary according to when ‘non EYFE’ weeks are taken – the example shows 1.5 weeks in autumn and 3 weeks in summer
Autumn	17	16	15	15.5
Spring	13	13	13	13
Sumer	22	22	22	19

Providers should enter their weeks x hours as described to us in their core offer. This is part of the annual agreement between us and providers of EYFE.

To ensure you do not exceed the maximum 570 (1,140) hours per child per year, enter the correct number of weeks each term for your offer so you do not exceed your total annual stretch.

Find more information in sections 5, 6, 7, 8 and the appendices of the Early Years Free Entitlements provider agreement.

Who can offer EYFE

In order to provide EYFE, you must deliver the full Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and be registered with Ofsted as an early years provider or be a school taking children 2 years and over and therefore exempt from registration with Ofsted as an early years provider.

You must be registered with Brighton & Hove City Council to offer EYFE.