Early years funding rates proposal 2026-27

Posted on 15 January 2026 in News and updates

Dear Provider,

The Department for Education (DfE) have published the Early Years Funding rates for 2026-27 and we are writing to confirm our proposal that will be presented to the Devon Education Forum for approval.

We can confirm that all the funding increases that we receive will be paid in full to providers from 1st April 2026.

The changes to our base rates will be as follows:

  • 3- & 4-year-old funding will increase from £5.36 to £5.66
  • 2-year-old funding will increase from £7.28 to £7.62
  • Under 2’s funding (from 9 months old) will increase from £9.78 to £10.24

As per our funding formula, we will continue to pay the universal supplements on all base rates as follows:

  • 4p per hour for deprivation for settings to support children of families that maybe experiencing some kind of disadvantage
  • 10p per hour for SEND to support children with low level or emerging needs, where reasonable adjustments can be made within your Ordinarily Available Provision to meet your inclusion duty and where the child’s needs will not attract Individual Inclusion Funding

The funding for Early Years Pupil Premium and Disability Access funding is paid in full to providers where the eligibility criteria is met. Rates are confirmed as follows:

  • Early Years Pupil Premium funding:  £1.15 per hour for eligible funded children of any age who are in receipt of early years entitlement funding (up to a maximum of 15 hours per week)
  • Disability Access funding: £975 per annum (pro rata for school starters age 4 years) for eligible funded children in receipt of Disability Living Allowance

The funding for 2025/26 did include a small uplift on each of the hourly rates due to an expansion grant we had received and shared with all providers. This was a one-year grant and has therefore been removed for 2026/27 as per the calculations above.

Online sessions:

We are going to hold 2 online sessions for providers so that we can talk through the funding rates and the funding formula as follows:

We are conscious that the Monday meeting follows the Spring Headcount Training session but we didn’t want to interrupt another evening next week and those interested in the funding rates may differ to those doing the administration for the setting.

We also plan to hold some sessions regarding Additional Service Charges and what is required from January 2026 as set out in the Statutory Guidance from 1 April 2025. We will advertise these sessions once the dates have been confirmed.

Early Years Funding Team