2 Year old Funding at Rainbow Day Nursery

Some 2-year-old children are eligible for the Universal 15 hours per week of Government funded Early Education for 38 weeks year (School Terms) from the term (September, January, or April) after their 2nd Birthday, subject to the following criteria:

Children are automatically eligible for 2-year-old funding if:

•            They are looked after by a Local Authority

•            They have left care in England or Wales through an adoption order, special guardianship order or              child arrangements order

•            They have a current statement of Special Education Needs or an Education Health and Care Plan

•            They get Disability Living Allowance

Children may be eligible for 2-year-old funding if their parent/ carers receive: 

•            Working Tax Credit provided annual income (as assessed by HMRC) does not exceed £16,190

•            Income Support

•            Income Based Job Seekers Allowance

•            Income-related Employment and Support Allowance

•            Support under part VI of the Immigration & Asylum Act 1999

•            Child Tax Credit provided annual income (as assessed by HMRC) does not exceed £16,190

•            Guarantee element of State Pension Credit

•            Universal Credit - provided family has an annual net earned income of no more than £15,400, as assessed by earnings from up to three of your most recent assessment periods)

In addition, Children may be eligible (depending on household income) if parents / carers receive:

•            Income Support

•            Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance

•            Income-related Employment and Support Allowance

•            Working Tax Credit run-on - paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit

•            Or have leave to remain in United Kingdom, or the right to live in the UK as the main carer for a British Citizen (Zambrano carer)

Non-Benefit related additional eligibility criteria

Children of families who don’t receive these benefits may also qualify for funding for 2 year olds if the family’s annual household income is no higher than the following: £26,500 for families with one child; £30,600 for families with two or more children. In addition to these thresholds, families must hold no more than £16,000 in capital and savings.

And the parent or carer meets any of the following criteria:

•    Zambrano or Chen carer

•    Families who have no recourse to public funds with a right to remain in the UK on grounds of private and family life  under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights
•    Families receiving support under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 who are also subject to a no recourse to public funds restriction
•     A subset of failed asylum seekers supported under Section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
•     Holder of a National (Overseas) – BN(O) – passport
•     Holder of a spousal visa, work visa or student visa   
 •     No immigration status.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know if I am eligible?

You can apply online via Somerset County Council (SCC) or you may get a letter from SCC. Please speak to us if you would like any more information.  

What else do I need to do?

Once we have had confirmation from SCC, at you are eligible, we will give you a Parental Declaration from the Local Authority and a contract from us. We must have these documents returned to us and we must send your declaration to SCC before your child’s first funded session.

What happens if my circumstances change?

Once confirmed, your child will remain eligible until they become eligible for 3-year-old funding so nothing will change, even if your circumstances do.

Can I use Childcare Vouchers, Tax Free Childcare or apply for Universal Credit with this funding? Yes, you can, visit www.childcarechoices.gov.uk for more information on help with childcare costs

How does Rainbow Day Nursery administer these hours?

The maximum allowance of hours for the academic year is 570 (15 hours x 38 weeks per year) We invoice based on the actual number of sessions your child attends in each month. We stretch the funded hours across the 12 months that we are open so the number of funded hours you receive will vary based on how many sessions your child attends in each month.

Do you charge a Registration Fee or Deposit?

Our deposit of two weeks’ worth of your fees is required to guarantee your child’s place with us unless they are already with us when they become eligible for funding. This deposit is refunded from your first month’s invoice. In line with SCC’s Provider Agreement, if you are accessing Government funded sessions only, this is deposit is not charged.

Can I have my funded hours whenever I want them?

All places are subject to our set sessions and our occupancies as we have statutory ratio and space requirements. We have a minimum attendance of 2 sessions per week.

What does my child get in their funded hours?

Government funding pays for your child’s early education, it is not intended to pay for the things that as a full day care setting we provide such as: snacks, a 2 course high tea, spare toiletries, consumables, an online learning journey, yoga and / or sports sessions (where applicable), emergency medication, sun-cream and trips in to the community with higher staff ratios, so we apply a voluntary additional services fee per session to cover the costs of all of these things, we ask that you provide your child’s lunch and if your child is in nappies we ask that you supply these and wipes, we include everything else in our additional services fee, please see our Sessions and Fees document for more information. Parents who are unable or unwilling to pay this, please speak to us to discuss your options.

Can my child attend on a Term Time only basis?

Not at Rainbow, we are open 51 weeks per year and stretch funding so that children can attend every week. We make parents aware that this is our policy and other settings operate differently.

Can I split my hours between different providers?

The law says you can split your funding between 3 providers a week on 2 sites per day. We have a minimum of 2 sessions per week so we will share funding with another setting. You must tell us if your child will be attending another setting so we can work out how to split funding and add the details onto your Parental Declaration. Failure to do so may result in you being charged our standard fees in the case of an over claim of funded hours.

The law says I do not have to agree to extra hours or additional services to get my funded hours?

That’s right, delivery of these hours is legislated for in the Statutory Guidance and we are not allowed to make it conditional that you buy extra hours in order to access your funded hours, it also clarifies that we do not have to offer funded hours. Our decision to offer stretched funding and to include our additional services package as standard is explained above but we make all parents aware that this is our policy and other settings may deliver these hours differently to us.

What if you do not have my preferred hours available?

You are welcome to join our waiting list or we will offer the places we have, and you can change to your preferred sessions as soon as they become available.

What if my child is ill or we go on holiday?

Occasional, short term absence such as illness or a family holiday is fine. Where extended absences occur for medical reasons, SCC allows us to continue to claim funding and hold open your funded place. We will notify SCC of any absence of more than 3 weeks; we ask that you always notify us if your child will be absent. Your usual fees will still be charged to keep your child’s place open. We offer a payment holiday of 2 weeks per year for your family holiday, we ask for 4 weeks’ notice of your holiday dates for this please.

What about in exceptional circumstances?

We always strive to be as flexible and family friendly as we can be, we will always consider exceptional circumstances and temporarily adjust our policies to help where we can, please speak to us for more information.

How long do you retain my information?

SCC place up on us the responsibility of checking original copies of documentation to confirm that your child has reached the eligible age for early years funding, we do this by asking to see your child’s Birth Certificate or Passport, we may retain a digital copy of this, which will be stored securely, in accordance with data protection and privacy requirements. In accordance with our Provider agreement with SCC we will store this information with a copy of your Parental Declaration for the year the funding claim relates to and for 6 years afterwards then securely disposed of it. Rainbow Nursery is registered with the Information Commissioners Office.

What if I want to change my childcare provider?

You can change provider subject to giving us 4 weeks’ notice, if notice is not given, we will claim 4 weeks funding during or in lieu of notice, if your child starts at a new setting during these 4 weeks you will be responsible for paying for any hours taken at either setting over and above your maximum funding entitlement. If your child joins Rainbows whilst in their 4 week notice period from another setting you will be responsible for their full fee before we can claim funding.

Where can I get more information?

You can visit www.childcarechoices.gov.uk or speak to us or your Health Visitor