Spring Census 2025 – useful information for early years providers
- Early Years funding
- Expanded hours – now available to children aged 9 months to 2 years with working parents.
Note: where a 2 year old is eligible for both Funded Hours (disadvantaged) and Expanded Funded Hours (working parents), the pupil should only be recorded with the Funded Hours (disadvantaged). This means that a 2 year old child can have no more than 15 hours funded by the DfE.
- Early Years Disability Access Funding – now available for children from aged 9 months onwards.
- Early Years pupil premium– now available for disadvantaged children aged from 9 months to 4 years. Children must be taking funded hours or the new expanded entitlement and meet the eligibility criteria.
Note: EYPP is not payable on the extended entitlement for 3 and 4 year old children with working parents (extended funded hours). It only applies where children are either in receipt of universal entitlement (funded hours) or expanded hour (9mths to 2yr olds with working parents).
- Early Years data Items now collected termly (previously spring only)
- Early Years basis for 2 year old funding – this relates only to the funded hours, it does not relate to the new expanded funded hours. Early Years portal reports will be available for each term and schools should follow the same process as previously.
- Early Years pupil premium – Early Years portal reports will be available for each term and schools should follow the same process as previously.
- Early Years eligibility code – required for 3 and 4 year olds eligible for extended funded hours and 9 months to 2 year olds eligible for the new expanded hours.
- Early Years Portal tasks – deadline dates
- EY portal task issued – Monday 13th January
- EY portal headcount wk – Sunday 12th to Saturday 19th January
- EY reports listing eligible children (2yr olds and pupil premium children) – Thursday 16th January
EYPP children – schools should use the latest list of eligible children as a starting point. Another list will then be produced with all pupils eligible for EYPP and will include 9 months to 2yr olds and any new 3 and 4yr olds – Thursday 16th January
Children not starting until census week – add the pupil to the headcount task with zero hours, entering the date they are due to start (this can be in the future). These pupils will then be included in the central checks.
- School Census v Early Years Portal – difference in terminology
| School Census | matching data items in: | Early Years Portal |
| Hours at setting – total hours attending by child as at census week (i.e. funded hours, extended hours, expanded hours and any hours paid by other means) | Total Hours booked in headcount week (funded plus charged for hours) – this is the total hours the child attends the setting per week | |
| Funded hours – this is the universal 15 hour entitlement for 3 and 4 yr olds and disadvantaged 2 year olds (e.g. income related, SEN, looked after, PLAA, DLA) | Funded/Universal hours claimed in headcount week – this is the first 15 hours of entitlement for 3/4yr olds and the ‘targeted’ 2yr old funding (income related and other criteria). | |
|
Extended hours – this is the extended hours for eligible 3/4yr olds (working parents with eligibility code) Expanded hours – this is the new expanded hours for eligible 9 months to 2yr olds (working parents with eligibility code) | Working entitlement hours claimed in headcount week – this is the extended hours for 3/4yr olds and the working entitlement expanded hours for 9 months to 2yr olds |
- Sims users
To accommodate these changes within the census routine in sims;
- an ‘Expanded Funded Hours’ column has been added to the Early Years Panel.
- the ’eligibility’ column covers both the extended hours available for 3 and 4 year olds and the new expanded hours for 9 months to 2 year olds.