Early years funding updates

To try and co-ordinate important messages we are including funding updates on this webpage. This will include everything that is current. We recommend that you ‘bookmark’ or save this webpage as a ‘favourite’ so you can easily refer to it.

• Spring Amendment Task Guidance

  The spring amendment task will be issued this week with a deadline of 23.59 on Tuesday 31^st March 2026.

  Amendment payments will be processed by Thursday 30^th April and be with providers by Tuesday 6^th May.  It is important that providers are accessing emails to deal with any overclaim queries over the Easter Holiday period to ensure data is amended in good time for payments.

  Please can we ask that you read this guidance before you make any changes to the amendment task/s.

  Payments are generated using your total termly hours claimed (universal/targeted plus working entitlement).  We may have apportioned the hours differently to our guidance for children who are eligible for EYPP.  We may have also amended the weekly hours claimed so that EYPP can be calculated.  If termly hours are correct and there has been no change to the child’s pattern of attendance, please DO NOT amend.

  The amendment task allows providers to make changes to their funding claim that was submitted at headcount i.e. add children who have joined the setting or adjust claims for children who may have left or who have increased or decreased their funded hours during the period.

  It also allows you to check for errors on your headcount claim, including where you may have hours included for 1st to 3rd April in your spring funding claim.

  We have provided guidance below on how to complete/amend your tasks.

  Please note that you must submit all your amendment tasks, even if you do not have any funded children or have any changes to make. This is a condition of funding as per our provider agreement.

  Adding new children for Summer Term 2026:

  • Please add children who will be newly funded in summer term to the relevant task i.e. a child who will be claiming universal 3- & 4-year-old funding in April will need to be added to your 2-year-old spring amendment task.
  • Please do not add any hours that are required for summer as this is the spring amendment task for hours delivered between 1^st January and 31^st Any hours from 1st April onwards will need to be added to the summer headcount task and will be funded at the increased funding rates.
  • Please note you are not able to add any children that were born between 1st April 2025  and the 30^th June 2025 to the under 2s spring amendment task. These children will need to be added to the under 2s summer headcount task when it is issued in May 2026.
  • Please check the date of working entitlement codes and eligibility as per our ‘Working Entitlement Update’

  Adding new children that have joined the setting, or that were missed at spring headcount:

  • You must see evidence of eligibility for ‘early learning for 2-year-olds (also referred to as targeted’ 2-year-old funding) to be able to claim funding. The evidence will contain a ‘TYF878’ reference and the ‘earliest date to take up the funded place’. We recommend that you keep a copy on file in case of any query.
  • There must be a ‘WE’ icon in the funding column to allow hours to be entered into the working entitlement fields.
  • If there is no ‘WE’ icon, please ensure that you have run a check on the code, that the child is entitled to the funding for spring, as per their eligibility dates, and the details i.e. name/date of birth used to run the code check match the task. You may need to add the working entitlement code to the child’s record on the task by clicking on the ‘edit child details’ button to the left of their name. If there has been a change to their working entitlement code, please check that the correct code i.e. the code that is valid for spring, is showing in the relevant field on the child’s record on the amendment task.
  • If the child has moved from, or is sharing hours with another setting, please contact the other provider and confirm their pattern of attendance, total hours claimed for spring and leaving date if appropriate including notice period (up to 4 weeks allowed for funding) Please also refer to our Provider Process for children claiming Early Years Funding (amendment)
  • Please ensure that the correct start date is recorded as it will automatically default to 01/01/2026.

  If the child started with you after headcount week, please record ‘0’ in the weekly columns and add the hours claimed for the funding period as follows:

  • For under 2s, and 2-year-old funded children that are entitled to the working entitlement funding, you will need to enter your weekly hours/hours claimed for the funding period in the ‘Working Entitlement’ columns.
  • For 2-year-olds that are entitled to the ‘early learning for 2-year-olds’, you will need to enter your weekly hours/hours claimed for the funding period in the ‘targeted/universal’ columns. Please note that if the child is eligible for both the working entitlement and early learning for 2-year-olds, hours should be recorded in the targeted columns only.
  • For 3- & 4-year-olds that are eligible for the ‘universal funding’ only, not the working entitlement (extended hours), please record the hours in the universal columns.
  • For 3- & 4-year-olds, who are eligible for the ‘working entitlement’ please record hours in all 4 columns.

  Weekly hours should be ‘0’ if the child started with you after headcount week.  Termly hours should be split 50/50 across the universal and working entitlement columns e.g. a child is claiming 350 hours for the funding period. This should be recorded as 175 hours in both the universal and working entitlement hours for the funding period columns.

  • As per our provider agreement we cannot fund decimal claims. Your total termly hours for the funding period must be in multiples of 0.5 hours. If the child has a total of 242.5 hours for the funding period, you cannot record 121.25 in each column. Please record 121.5 in the universal column and 121 in the Working Entitlement column. If decimal claims are submitted and we have to amend the claim post deadline there will be an administrative charge.

  Amending hours for existing children:

  IMPORTANT: Please do not change any hours on the task/s unless the child has increased or decreased their hour’s part way through the term. We may have apportioned the hours differently to our guidance for children who are eligible for EYPP.

  • Please do not amend any weekly hours unless you made an error on your headcount claim.
  • If you are amending your termly claim because a child has increased or decreased their weekly hours, please recalculate the total funding you require.
  • If the child is only eligible for the ‘targeted/universal’ funding or ‘Working Entitlement’ for 2 yr olds and under, please adjust total hours for funding period only.
  • If the child is a 3- or 4-year-old entitled to the working entitlement funding, please add, or deduct the hours equally from the ‘universal / working entitlement claimed for funding period’ columns and ensure the total of both columns equals the hours you require. If there is a deduction of 40.5 hours you will need to deduct 20.5 and 20 hours as you cannot record multiples of 0.25 in the total funded hours column.
  • Add a leaving date if the child has left the setting. Please note that by adding a leaving date the system will not automatically reduce the termly hours, this needs to be calculated manually and updated.
  • If there is a notice period, the end date will be the last day of the notice period. You must share this information if the child has moved to a new provider to ensure there is no overclaim. Any overclaim could result in a reduction.
  • If the child has increased or decreased their weekly hour’s part way through the funding period or had additional ad hoc hours (within their 15/30 hours per week), calculate the funding required and adjust the ‘targeted/universal and/or ‘working entitlement hours claimed in funding period’ columns.
  • Please keep your workings as they may be required if data is selected by Audit.

  Please add parent/carer data for all children who are not listed on a previous EYPP report.

  Please remember to save your changes at regular intervals and only submit the task/s once all the changes have been input. If there are any late changes you can resubmit up until the deadline.

  We will be running an online session via Teams on how to complete your spring amendment tasks.

  Wednesday 25th March 2026 from 6.30pm to 7.30pm

  There is no requirement to book a place, please click on the link to join the session.

  The deadline for submissions is 23.59 on Tuesday 31st March 2026. Please can we ask that you complete and submit your tasks as soon as possible in case there are any queries.

• Review of Monthly Forecast Payments

  We receive a number of enquiries each month from providers asking when forecast payments will be made. Our payment schedule is in our Provider Agreement online and is shared with providers on a regular basis.

  The Early Years entitlements are funded from the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG). The income comes into the Local Authority monthly and is received between the 3rd & 6th of each month. This has been considered when reviewing our payment processes and is why currently the forecast payments are processed within the first 5 working days of the month.

  Further to provider feedback, we have reviewed our forecast payment schedule and have 2 options available to us:

  1. We can continue with the existing monthly payment schedule, but payments will be processed on the 5^th working day of the month as per the payment schedule attached. You will need to continue to allow 2 working days to receive the payment once it has been processed and you have received your remittance.  There have been instances where we have been able to process the payments slightly earlier but we will no longer do this as some providers have come to expect this and it has caused confusion.
  2. We process forecast payments so that you receive the payment on the 12^th of each month. If the 12^th falls on a weekend or bank holiday it will be paid on the Friday or last working day before.

  We know how important cashflow is to childcare providers and value your feedback to ensure that we move forward with a schedule that suits the majority.

  We understand that some providers may have to make changes to direct debits once this is finalised, but this gives a clear indication of when you will be paid and should reduce the need for queries going forward.

  Please click the link below to confirm your setting name and preference for monthly forecast payments.

  Review of Monthly Forecast Payments – Fill in form

  Please complete by Friday 27^th March 2026.

  There are no changes proposed to our other payments at this time.

  The payment schedule for option a) for April 2026 – March 2027 is as follows:

  Month	Deadline for DCC processing (by 5th working day of each month)	Provider payment date
  April 2026	9th April 2026	13th April 2026
  May 2026	8th May 2026	12th May 2026
  June 2026	5th June 2026	9th June 2026
  July 2026	7th July 2026	9th July 2026
  August 2026	7th August 2026	11th August 2026
  September 2026	7th September 2026	9th September 2026
  October 2026	7th October 2026	9th October 2026
  November 2026	6th November 2026	10th November 2026
  December 2026	7th December 2026	9th December 2026
  January 2027	8th January 2027	12th January 2027
  February 2027	5th February 2027	9th February 2027
  March 2027	5th March 2027	9th March 2027

  Headcount payments

  Headcount payments are processed six weeks after the headcount task deadline. As this date can change each financial year (depending on the headcount week), please refer to the deadline of the relevant headcount task and calculate six weeks from that date.  Please allow 2 working days to receive the payment.

  Amendment payments

  Amendment payments are processed by the end of the month following the amendment task deadline as follows:

  Autumn term – will be processed by 31st January.

  Spring term – will be processed by 30^th April

  Summer term – will be processed by 30^th September.

  The timescale for the amendment payments does not change. Please allow 2 working days to receive the payment once it has been processed.

  Forecast payments and headcount payments don’t apply to Devon Schools. These schools will receive their termly funding as per the amendment task payment schedule.

• Summer Forecasts

  The summer forecast deadline has been extended to Monday 30th March 2026 for submissions.

  We are in the process of calculating the summer forecast which will be paid in equal monthly instalments (April, May, June, July & August).

  We are often asked why we can’t make forecast payments on a set day each month. Our forecast payments have always been made at the start of each funding period. When we moved to monthly payments we continued with the same process taking into consideration the feedback received following our trial with Childminders.

  The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) which is income into the Local Authority to fund the EY entitlements, is received between the 3rd & 6th of each month. This is why the forecast payments are processed within the first 5 working days.

  Childminders: 

  If you would like to request a forecast for summer, please fully complete and submit our online form with the estimated number of hours for under 2s, 2-year-olds and 3- & 4-year-olds (as applicable). If you don’t have any funded children in a particular age group, please enter ‘0’ hours.

  Please can we take this opportunity to remind all childminders that funding cannot be claimed for a related child. The full details can be found in the Statutory Guidance.

  If you no longer wish to be registered to accept the Early Years funding, and haven’t already told us, please let us know.

  Group Based Providers/Academies (not Devon Schools):

  We will be calculating your summer forecast based on 90% of spring headcount. Please refer to the “Total” amount on page 1 of your Financial Breakdown Report when it is issued to confirm the amount.

  If you expect your funding for summer to be significantly higher/lower than our proposed forecast and cannot wait until the normal headcount payment (which is processed approximately 6 weeks after the headcount task deadline), you can ask for your forecast to be recalculated. To do so, please fully complete and submit our online form with the estimated number of hours for under 2s, 2-year-olds and 3- & 4-year-olds (as applicable). If you don’t have any funded children in a particular age group, please enter ‘0’ hours.

  Please note that your estimated hours for summer are for the period from 1^st April 2026 – 31^st August 2026. You will need to ensure that you have run checks on any working entitlement codes to ensure that they are eligible for the summer funding period. Please refer to our  working entitlement update for providers for more information.

  Please do not respond to this email with your forecasted hours for summer. Any forecast requests must be submitted via the online form

  The deadline for submissions is Friday 20^th March 2026.  Please note that we cannot guarantee processing of any amendments or requests received after this date.

• Statutory Guidance - April 2026

  On Monday 9th February 2026 the Department for Education released the Statutory Guidance Early education and childcare (valid from April 2026).

  Local authorities have a legal duty to ensure that early years funded providers meet the requirements of the statutory guidance and that parents access the entitlements in the spirit that they are intended.

  We are working through the document and will be making the necessary changes to our Provider Agreement in due course and this will include the changes regarding the Ofsted inspection outcomes. 

  There is more detail in the Charging Section from A1.31 and we now have a Transparency Section A1.39 which supports the requirements for January 2026 as detailed in 2025.

  We know providers have been making changes to their funding models, reviewing their private hourly fees, updating charging policies for Chargeable Extra’s, and moving to itemised invoices to ensure they are compliant for January 2026.

  Providers must have a clear offer of where funded time can be accessed, what Chargeable Extras are provided and what options there are for parents that are unable or unwilling to pay.

  We know that this has presented some challenges for some providers but thank you for your co-operation.

• Parent Queries and Complaints

  Over the past 12 months, we have seen a considerable increase in parent queries and complaints relating to the funding offer and chargeable extras.  Some of these queries were simply where information provided was not clear and transparent.  We have worked closely with a number of providers in Devon and reviewed funding models, charging policies and parent communications to ensure providers are meeting the requirements of the Statutory Guidance.  We have seen some positive changes to the funding offers that enables parents to access more funded hours which is making a real difference to families in Devon.  Websites and policies have been updated so that parents understand what is available.

  However, having options for parents who do not want to access Chargeable Extras has been more challenging for providers, especially when it comes to food and activities.

  It was felt that some of the options that were being offered by some providers were not reasonable and designed to make it difficult for parents to opt-out. They reported feeling pressurised into accessing and paying the charges which the DfE state must be voluntary.

  We have explored various options with numerous providers and after discussions with Devon colleagues, senior managers, and other LA’s, we feel it is important for us to expand and clarify charges in our Provider Agreement as per A1.35:

  Providers should be mindful of the impact of charges on families, particularly the most disadvantaged. Providers who choose to offer the free entitlements are responsible for setting a policy on providing parents with options for alternatives to additional charges. This policy must offer reasonable alternatives that allow parents to access the entitlement for free, including allowing parents to supply their own, or waiving the cost of these items.

  Therefore, providers in Devon have two options for parents that want to opt out of food.

  You can either:

  • Allow parents to bring in a packed lunch or
  • Provide children with your food offer free of charge

  Packed lunches

  You can set a packed lunch policy with foods you’d expect to be provided for the time a child is with you.  List foods that should be included for each meal/snack and what is not allowed due to allergies. You may want to reheat homecooked meals, you may not. You may ask parent to include an ice pack if you don’t have refrigerator space. Your packed lunch policy must be reasonable. This option comes with no cost to the setting but does require more considerations with allergies, storage and content.

  Waive fees

  Our funding formula includes a universal deprivation supplement on every funded hour. This funding can be used to offer a free lunch.  This may appear to be a suitable option if your parent requests have been low but do consider if this is financially manageable if more parents start to opt out. This option does enable the setting to continue operating lunches in the normal way but does need to be costed. You could do this as a temporary measure if requests are low and rethink the packed lunch options if requests increase.

  We can confirm that it is not considered reasonable or acceptable to request:

  • Cooked meals only to be reheated
  • Hot food to be provided and remain hot in a flask for mealtimes
  • Foods or meals that match the settings menu or meal plan
  • Shop bought items in original packaging
  • Ingredients or shopping lists of food items that parents must supply
  • Parents to drop off meals at a different time to when the child arrives at the setting.

  As part of our work with providers, some are reporting that they are waiving fees for children who are in receipt of the targeted 2-year-old funding (FRAS) or Early Years Pupil Premium. Some of these families may have returned to work after qualifying for these funding streams and do not lose eligibility. Other children could be in foster care where foster parents are paid an allowance that includes food or a child that has been adopted and their parents are not financially disadvantaged and could afford to pay for Chargeable Extras. Working parents who may qualify for the working entitlements are often not considered disadvantaged but could be more in need. We recommend that providers who have such a policy, urgently review the removal of additional charges to just these targeted families and consider all children and families that are in the setting.

  Other feedback in relation to packed lunches are concerns relating to allergies, but this is not a reason to not allow packed lunches.  There are early years settings that have a mixture of packed lunches and cooked lunches, and next week we hope to share how they manage allergies at mealtimes that will hopefully support settings with their lunch plans. If you are a provider allowing packed lunches whilst managing allergies in your setting, and you’d like to share your practices, that would be appreciated.

• Reminders of other requirements of the Statutory Guidance

  For consistency, the DfE have the Chargeable Extras template. You cannot have a single daily charge and must set your fees under the following three headings:

  • Food: – meals, snacks, drinks
  • Consumables: – nappies, wipes, sun cream etc
  • Activities: – yoga, French, outings or events

  These charges are voluntary and cannot be a condition of a child being offered a funded space.

  You do not have to cost each individual meal/snack within your food charge, but you may have different charges for different ages, or if children are coming for different funded session times (depending on your model).  For example, a child doing an afternoon session would only access tea and not breakfast or lunch. The food charge would reflect what is provided within that session.

  Parents must be able to purchase the Chargeable Extras they require, and this should be done as a termly arrangement. They can choose to access the food offer but not the Consumables or Activities.  There cannot be a requirement that parent’s access all or nothing.

  If parents opt out of any Activities charge, the child must be offered an appropriate alternative EYFS activity. You must consider how you manage this within a room or across the setting depending on the number of children in each age range and the number of families that opt out.

  Over the last 18 months there have been numerous Ombudsman reports and court cases where parents are not being offered their funded entitlements as intended and the LA has a duty to ensure Government Funding is allocated to providers that are compliant and meeting the requirements of the Statutory Guidance. The outcomes of investigations have resulted in LA’s being required to repay parent fees that have been charged, and LA’s recovering those payments from providers.

  We don’t want Devon providers to be in this position and want to support you to make any necessary changes to be compliant.

  Requirements for January 2026

  As per the Statutory Guidance of 2025, providers were advised of new requirements that needed to be implemented by January 2026.

  Itemised invoicing

  Providers must have itemised invoices that allow parents to see that they have received their child’s entitlement hours completely free of charge and understand that any fees paid are for additional hours or optional chargeable extras.  Invoices and receipts should include the provider’s full details so that they can be identified as coming from a specific provider.

  Providers must break down their charges and fees separately into:

  • the free entitlement hours
  • additional private paid hours
  • food charges
  • non-food consumables charges
  • activities charges

  If due to software suppliers this is delayed, it is acceptable for this level of detail to be included in the parent contract that confirms the total weekly charge and how that is calculated for any invoices.

  Transparency

  The costs of chargeable extras must be published on provider websites or, where they do not have a website, on local authority Family Information Services. These should be clear, up-to-date and easily accessible to parents, to enable parents to make an informed choice. They should set out, for each setting, the amounts for all chargeable extras listed, as well as the pattern of hours that parents can take the entitlements.

  The statutory guidance say that local authorities may exempt childminders and providers caring for 10 or fewer children at any one time. However, we treat all providers equally and therefore this is a requirement for all funded settings.

• Early Years Funding Rates from 1st April 2026

  We are pleased to advise that our proposed funding rates that we shared with you in January have been approved.

  The full increase received from the Department for Education is being passed on to providers in the hourly funding rate for all providers in Devon.

  Early Years Entitlement Funding rates for each age are as follows:

  Early Years Entitlement rates	3–4-year-olds	2-year-olds	Under 2’s (from 9 months old)
  Hourly base rate	£5.66	£7.62	10.24
  Universal SEND funding	£0.10	£0.10	£0.10
  Universal deprivation funding	£0.04	£0.04	£0.04
  Total hourly rate	£5.80	£7.76	£10.38
  Early Years Pupil Premium	£1.15	£1.15	£1.15
  Disability Access Funding (per year)	£975	£975	£975

  For further details visit: Early years funding rates proposal 2026-27 – Information for childcare providers

  These changes will be reflected for any hours claimed in Summer 2026 from 1st April – 31st August.

  If any hours for the Summer period have been included in your Spring Headcount, please ensure you reduce the claim in the Amendment so that the hours are funded in the correct funding period and at the correct funding rate.

• 2-Year-Old funding: Working Entitlements and Families Receiving Additional Support (FRAS)

  There are two different funding streams available for 2-year-olds who meet the eligibility criteria.

  • The working entitlement is up to 30 hours per week. This is for parents that meet the minimum income requirements of 16 hours a week at the National Minimum Wage, or who have a carers role.
  • The targeted 2-year-old funding is up to 15 hours per week. This is for non-working, or low-income households, who are also in receipt of a qualifying benefit, for children who are in care or who have left care subject to an adoption, special guardianship or child arrangement order, for children that are in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or children who have an Education, Health Care Plan (EHCP). Targeted 2-year-old funding has previously been referred to as disadvantaged 2-year-old funding or 2gether funding in Devon.

  The DfE have recently updated their terminology and have started to refer to ‘targeted’ 2-year-old funding as ‘Families Requiring Additional Support’ (FRAS) and in the coming months we will be updating our systems and guidance to reflect this change. It is important that you inform your staff and update your parent literature to ensure everyone is familiar with the term ‘FRAS’ funding.

  Applications for FRAS are made on the Devon Citizen’s Portal.

  Parents can find details on how to apply for the working entitlement, and information on other help that is available for childcare costs by visiting Best Start in Life

  To access the working entitlement from 1st January 2026 (spring term 2026) a parent must have applied and received their code by 31st December 2025.

  If a family advises that they are eligible for 2-year-old funding the process remains the same.

  • If they have working entitlement they will have been issued with an 11-digit code that starts ‘50’, ‘11’ (or ‘40’ if a foster carer). You will need to run a check on the code using the parent’s national insurance number via the provider portal to confirm if it is eligible for the relevant funding period.
  • If a family advises that they are entitled to 2-year-old funding (FRAS), and applied via Devon County Council,  they would have been issued with a TYF878 code. They will need to show you written confirmation to confirm eligibility, and this will also show the earliest date that they can take up the funded place. You cannot run a check on this code, or add it to a task, you just need to see the evidence (the code alone is not sufficient). We suggest that you keep a copy on file in case of any query.
  • If a family has been awarded the 2 year old funding by another local authority, we ask that you direct them to the Devon Citizen Portal to make an application. If their circumstances have changed since this was previously awarded, please ask them to request help and attach a copy confirming their eligibility to their Devon application so we can manually assess. If they are still deemed as eligible, they will be issued with an email/portal message which will confirm this.

  FRAS funding for 2-year-olds can be used alongside the working entitlement for a combined maximum of 30 hours a week (1140 hours a year).  Information is provided in our Headcount and Amendment Guidance regarding the process for claiming hours on the headcount and amendment tasks.

  There is no universal entitlement for 2-year-olds so there will be some 2-year-olds that don’t qualify for funding. If one parent is working and the household income is too high to qualify for FRAS, or parent/s are working, and their earnings exceed the £100,000 limit for working entitlements they won’t be eligible.

  Please ensure that you have confirmed a child’s eligibility for the funding before offering a funded space.  Until eligibility is confirmed you should only allocate hours as fully chargeable and ensure that this is reflected in your contracts.

• Early Years Expansion Grant (EYEG)

  For 2025/26 we have received a grant of £966,227 from the Department for Education (DfE) for the final phase of the roll-out of the working entitlements.  From September 2025, the working entitlements for eligible 2-year-olds and under will increase to up to 30 hours per week.

  Local authorities must distribute the funding in a clear and transparent manner and consider specific growth needs in their area to meet their sufficiency duty.

  Whilst the funding is calculated on uplifting the 2-year-old and under 2’s funding rate, due to provider feedback, we have decided to distribute an increase across all ages (£778K) and retain some funding (£188K) for revenue grants in areas where we know new development will be required in 2025.  Due to more 3- & 4-year-olds accessing a higher number of funded hours, it does reduce the amount of increase we can allow on each of the funding rates.

  The increases in hourly rates from 1^st April 2025 (summer funding period) is as follows:

  3- & 4-year-olds = 6p per hour

  2-year-olds = 4p per hour

  Under 2’s  = 4p per hour

  Therefore, the new hourly rates from 1^st April 2025 will be:

  3- & 4-year-olds = £5.56

  2-year-olds = £7.46

  Under 2’s = £9.96

  All hourly rates above include 10p for universal SEND and 4p for universal Deprivation.

  The increased hourly rates will be used to calculate the funding due for summer once the summer headcount tasks have been submitted. This will be shown on the financial breakdown report that will be issued via the provider portal once the balancing headcount payment is made at the end of June.  Please note that we will not be amending monthly forecast payments.

  This is a one-year grant so these increases will be removed from the funding rates from April 2026 and the normal DfE increases will be allocated once known.

  If you are looking at a further development for 2-year-olds or under in an area of need, please speak with your EYCA so we can advise on the grant availability.

  Please ensure this communication is shared with the business owners, directors, finance colleagues and anyone else who needs to be aware.

• Training sessions, videos & presentations

  Spring Amendment Online Training Sessions:

  We will be running online sessions via Teams on how to complete your spring amendment tasks. The dates and times are shown below:

  Wednesday 25th March 2026 from 6.30pm to 7.30pm

  Summer Headcount Online Training Sessions:

  We will be running online sessions via Teams on how to complete your summer headcount and amendment tasks. The dates and times are shown below:

  Friday 8th May 2026 from 11.00am to 12.00 noon

  Wednesday 13th May 2026 from 6.30pm to 7.30pm

  Summer Amendment Online Training Sessions:

  Friday 10th July 2026 from 11.00am to 12.00 noon

  Wednesday 15th July 2026 from 6.30pm to 7.30pm

  There is no requirement to book a place on any of the sessions, please just click on the link to join.

  Videos:

  We have also produced some training videos to help with the completion of tasks:

  • How to add a child to your Headcount Task – video guide
  • How to run a working entitlement eligibility code check – video guide
  • Two year old Headcount Task – video guide
  • How to edit your 3 & 4 year old Headcount Task – video guide
  • Working entitlement funding code – video guide

  More videos will be added as they become available.

• Registered email address for funding purposes

  If you change your email address, and this is also used for funding purposes i.e. provider portal, remittance etc. please email eyef@devon.gov.uk to advise and ask for this to be updated. If we have an incorrect email address you won’t receive conflict, audit emails, you may be missing out on important information regarding funding, and it will cause problems if you need to reset your provider portal password. 

  You may also need to register a new egress account for the new email in order to share sensitive and confidential information with us. Please visit Egress support for more information 

  Please could we also ask that funding information is shared with other staff/colleagues where relevant and appropriate.

• Polylino EAL Resources

  The Early Years and Childcare service has a number of licences available for Polylino resources. 

  Polylino is a multilingual digital picture book service for early years providers. It provides nursery practitioners and managers with a multilingual digital library aligned with the EYFS  curriculum which can be used to support language and literacy development in the nursery and at home.  

  More information is available on YouTube or by visiting the website.  

  If this is something that would support EAL children in your setting, please sign up for the free trial on the Polylino website and if you would like to apply for licences, please complete the Polylino EAL resources for early years children application form