1. Headcount Information Sessions
January 2018

2. 2,3,4 year old funding 2 year old funding
3 year old universal funding (15 hours)
30 hour funding
15 hours
Additional 15 hours
Eligibility criteria for some children the term after their second birthday
Every child the term after their third birthday
Eligibility criteria for some children the term after their third birthday
£5.24 per hour (570 hours)
£4 per hour (570 hours)
£4 per hour (570 hours )
Child can start at any time if they are eligible
Child can only be funded if they are in a setting on headcount day
Child can only be funded if they have a valid code, from the beginning of a term
No transitional payment
Transitional payment for the first 3 weeks of term only
Provider portal
Indicative funding – lagged data
Indicative – data collection

3. Spring headcount
The spring headcount for funded 2, 3 and 4 year olds takes place on the 18th January 2018.
You must send us your headcount data by 5pm on 24th January.
The provider portal will be available from 2pm on 18th January.

4. Funded weeks You will be funded for 11 weeks for the spring term.
If you wish to be funded for the full amount this term, you should claim for 15 hours per week for 11 weeks. You will be funded for the full term for all eligible children that are with you on headcount day.
You don’t need to claim for fewer weeks if a child is not present for the whole term, provided the child is with you on headcount day.

6. Stretched offer
If you wish to stretch the funding over more weeks, you should still claim for 15 hours over 11 weeks.
The Spring term is a maximum of 165 hours of funding, (11 Weeks) any hours a child attends above those funded are the responsibility of the parent.

7. Provider portal
The headcount and census will be collected via the provider portal. If you are having problems using the portal, please let one of the team know as soon as possible so that we can resolve the issues quickly.
You can contact Charley or Ross, if you are having problems logging on.
You can also contact your School Ready Improvement Officer if you are having problems adding data to the portal or sending your headcount to us.

8. Passwords
Due to a system upgrade your password may not work.  Please contact Charley or Ross to reset your password.

9. Headcount day
The headcount will take place on 18th January. You should claim for all children taking up a funded place during the week commencing 15th January.
If a child leaves your setting before headcount week, you must not claim for them on the headcount. Transition funding for the first 3 weeks of term is only paid during the autumn term. If a child leaves before headcount, you will not be funded for them.
If a child does not start at your setting until the week after headcount, you must not claim for them on headcount day. You will be able to claim for 2 year olds that take up a place after headcount later in the term.

11. 2 year olds
You must make sure that 2 year olds are eligible for funding, and have been given a funding code by Walsall FIS, before offering them a funded place.
If an eligible 2 year old takes up their place after headcount day, you can still claim funding for the number of weeks that they were with you.

12. Post headcount amendment
As with previous terms, you will be able to claim for 2 year olds that start at your setting after headcount.

13. 30 hours childcare
All children claiming the extended entitlement will have an eligibility code.
You must check that their code is valid before you offer them a funded place.
You can check codes on the provider portal.
If a child is claiming 15 hours per week at a school, you must claim the extended entitlement. You will need the eligibility code, along with the parent / carer’s National Insurance number.
If a child is in their grace period, you will still be funded until the end of the grace period. However, a child in their grace period may not take up a place at a new provider.
Parents must renew their eligibility code every 3 months.

14. Deadlines You must submit your headcount data by 5pm on 24th January.
After this, the portal will be closed and we will not be able to accept any more headcount data.

15. EY Census
The Early Years Census is a separate data collection from the headcount. It collects data about settings and their staff.
You can complete the EY census on the portal between 2pm on 18th January and 5pm on 31st January.
You must complete the EY census data in order to be funded for the next 12 months. This is a statutory data collection for all funded providers.

16. Finance
Once headcount data has been validated and sent to finance, funding adjustments, where necessary, will be made - either additional payment or an invoice to recover over funding.
The finance team use validated data, which may differ slightly from the funding data on the provider portal.
If you have any questions about payments, please contact the finance team.
Information about payments is not held by the early years team, Charley or Ross.

17. Indicative payments – Group Childcare
Indicative payments will be those shown on the Indicative Budget Statements provided to all settings at the beginning of the financial year.  The indicative allocations use lagged data from the previous financial year as their basis.
For the financial year, the lagged data used in indicative allocations will be – January 2018 headcount for the summer and spring 2019 period.  For the autumn period the data from the October 2017 headcount will be used.

18. Indicative payments - Childminders
For childminders, from onwards there are 3 options available for indicative payments.
The finance team would prefer a consensus view (i.e. all childminders the same way).

19. Indicative payments - Options
If option 3 is the consensus view then estimates must be received in finance by no later than Friday 23rd February.  Where no estimates are received, no indicative allocation will be made and payments will be on the basis of actual validated data later in the funding period.
Estimates for 1 or more of the periods can be zero

20. Contact Details
If you have any questions about data collection via the provider portal, please call Charley Rogers on
If you have queries about the headcount process, please call the Schools Service Desk on (option 3) and ask for Ross Capp. Alternatively, you could contact us by
If you have any financial queries, please contact the Schools & Early Years Finance Support Team
If you are having any other issues, please contact your Improvement Officer. Ann Stubbs ( ) or Terri Nicholls ( ).