Bank holiday changes to council services
How childcare providers can offer the Early Years Free Entitlements (EYFE)
Find out how childcare professionals offer 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
We will fund places at any provider registered with us and with a ’good’ or ‘outstanding’ judgement from Ofsted.
Detailed information regarding who can offer EYFE can be found in Section 7 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 or 1,140 hour 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)
- 47.5 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.
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.
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.