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30 Hours Update (12th March 2018)Please cascade the following information to ALL staff who are dealing with the 30 hours places or process within your school or childcare provision.The Department for Education (DfE) has recently sent out the following information: Extended Period for Codes: Summer Term PlacesThe DfE are continuously striving to improve the experience for parents and to ensure no eligible parent misses out on a 30 hours place. It is envisaged there will be a small number of parents who will apply on or before the 31st March that may receive their 30 hours code in April. This could be due to a number of reasons, for example:Technical problems with the online application processHer Majesty Revenue & Customs (HMRC) requiring additional information from a parent before making an eligibility decisionLocal authorities were asked to offer flexibility to accept codes generated after the deadline in the autumn and spring terms. The DfE have asked local authorities to adopt the same flexible approach in the summer term by allowing parents who will apply on time (on or before the 31st March) but do not actually receive a code until after the deadline, to still be able to take up a summer term place.In some parts of the country the Easter holidays fall in the first two weeks of April and the DfE are keen to avoid placing additional burdens on local authorities, schools and providers during this time, knowing a large number of these will not be open in this period. Therefore, local authorities have been asked to fund a parent where they have applied on or before the 31st March but have a 30 hours code with a validity start date on or before the 23rd April 2018.Doncaster Council will follow the guidelines which have been given and support the request from DfE.This means Doncaster Council will fund a 30 hours place for the summer term where:a parent has applied on or before the 31st March 2018 and has an eligibility code with a validity start date of on or before the 23rd April 2018PLEASE NOTE - for codes with a validity start date of 1st to 23rd April:For permanent codes beginning ‘500..’ the school/childcare provider must have evidence that the parent applied for the code on or before the 31st March 2018. Please inform parents they need to contact the HMRC Customer Service Helpline (Tel: 0300 123 4097) and HMRC will be able to issue a standard email or letter with the ‘application date’ to the parent requesting this evidence. For temporary codes beginning ‘11…’ no evidence is required. These temporary codes will only be issued to parents who applied/attempted to apply by the 31st March and so the code itself should be accepted as evidence that the parent applied by the deadline. Please remember, when the code has been validated by the school/childcare provider you need to ensure the following criteria are correct before confirming a summer term place with the parent and claiming funding from the Council:the validity start date is on or before the 23rd April 2018 for validity start dates between the 1st and 23rd April the parent has provided evidence they have applied by the 31st March (codes beginning ‘500’)it is the term following the child’s 3rd birthday Managing Your MarketingThank you for continuing to communicate to parents that they must apply in good time for 30 hours ahead of the summer term. Some parents will need to provide additional evidence to HMRC that they are eligible so it is essential that they apply in good time. In addition, parents who already have a code need to reconfirm their eligibility every 3 months to ensure they continue to be eligible. To support you getting the message out to potential new parents who may not know about their entitlement to a 30 hours place for their 3 or 4 year old, please make use of the Childcare Choices Partner Toolkit – please read the following information:The social media assets folder on the Childcare Choices website has been updated with images and messages for you to use, see below for some examples. These can be accessed at: Childcare Choices have provided local authorities with a new A5 leaflet which gives useful information for parents. The new leaflet contains ‘Your New Childcare Account’ on one side (see the image below), which shows the process pathway for a parent and on the reverse it has a condensed version of the ‘Top Things Parents Need to Know’. All of the information on the new leaflet plus lots more is available in the Childcare Choices Partner Toolkit which can be found at: The aim of the Partner Toolkit is to help schools/childcare providers to promote the 30 hours offer and Tax Free Childcare through a range of materials, including FAQs, posters and suggested content for emails/ social media.Marketing Materials:The Families Information Service will soon be delivering supplies of this new leaflet to the Family Hubs. From Monday 19th March, schools and childcare providers can collect a supply of the new leaflets as well as the original posters and postcard, from their local Family Hub. If it is more convenient to call in to the Civic Building to collect these marketing materials, please contact the Families Information Service to make arrangements. Temporary codes (beginning ’11…’)As an additional measure to ensure that parents receive their codes in advance of the 31st March 2018 deadline, the childcare service will begin to offer temporary codes to parents who experience technical problems from Thursday 1st March 2018. Please encourage parents, who are having difficulties completing their application or reconfirmation online, to contact the Customer Service Helpline Telephone 0300 123 4097 who will check eligibility and provide them with a temporary code if they qualify for 30 hours. Remember, temporary codes need to be validated via the Eligibility Checking System in the same way as the permanent codes (beginning ‘500…’) before a child takes up their place.We are now in March so please send the message out to parents telling them to apply for a 30 hours code as soon as possible. To secure a place in the summer term the deadline for parents to apply is the 31st March 2018. Please encourage parents to respond quickly to any requests for additional information from HMRC to allow them time to process the application before the cut-off date of the 23rd April 2018. Parents experiencing technical difficulties should not delay in contacting the HMRC Childcare Service Helpline for assistance: Telephone 0300 123 4097 Consultation - Monthly Payments Thank you to everyone who completed the consultation survey on the Council implementing monthly payments. We had a really good response rate: 71% from academies with nurseries; and 64% from the day nurseries, sessional providers and childminders. Your responses will inform the decision making process on which model of payment system will be implemented. Further information will be sent out to you in due course on the outcome of the consultation.School nurseries will receive monthly payments from April 2018 and for the day nurseries, sessional providers and childminders monthly payments will start in September 2018.Delivery Support FundTo support local authorities with the first year of delivery, and to enable them to support their providers to deliver sufficient 30 hours places, the Department for Education (DfE) has established the Delivery Support Fund (DSF). In November 2017 local authorities were invited to submit a bid for this funding and the application had to be supported by a succinct and relevant evidence based business case. We are pleased to inform you Doncaster Councils application was successful.The funding which has been secured will support a number of initiatives which will include: communications with parents; business sustainability; and establishing locality based partnership groups to support 30 hours places and transitions. The overall aim of the funding is to increase take up of places and ensure there is a sufficient supply of places in the areas where they are required – this may include creating new places as well as supporting existing provision to maintain current places.The business sustainability element will be delivered by an external organisation that has a high level of sustainability and business expertise across the childcare sector. They will provide a range of workshops will be delivered aimed at business models, delivery and understanding how to put the statutory requirements into practice to benefit both the business’s sustainability alongside meeting the family’s needs to access a free place. The workshops will be for separate groups of providers i.e. childminders, schools and group providers to ensure their specific ‘type’ needs are met and beneficial networking can take place with colleagues from the same sector.Further support will be available for full daycare providers that currently have a good level of understanding of business and finance models, however, they require a more advanced level of support. There will be the opportunity to apply and access confidential bespoke advice and support which will be delivered on a 1:1basis. The aim is to support the sustainability of the daycare providers who have identified the potential for the expected annual increase in expenditure over the next two years to exceed their income. Information on how to access the business sustainability workshops and bespoke advice and support will be sent out soon.Early Years UpdateChanges to the Childcare (Early Years Provision Free of Charge) (Extended Entitlement) Regulations 2016 regulations:A parent, if not self-employed, must be in qualifying paid work in order to be eligible for 30 hours. In January 2018, an amendment to the 30 hours regulations came into force. This changed the definition of being treated as in paid work from: ‘expecting to start work/return within 14 days’ to ‘expecting to start work/return within 31 days’. This will benefit parents by allowing them to apply earlier which will give them more time to make their childcare arrangements with schools/providers. Outcome of public consultations on Free School Meals (FSM) and the Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP), and the free early education entitlement for two-year-olds under Universal Credit:On 7th February 2018, the government responded to two public consultations on introducing an earnings threshold for families on Universal Credit for Free School Meals (FSM) and the Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP), and the free entitlement for two year olds.? For FSM and the EYPP, existing regulations are being amended to implement a net earnings threshold of ?7,400. This will come into force from 1st April 2018. For the two year old free entitlement, existing regulations are being amended to implement a net earnings threshold of ?15,400. This will come into force from 1 April 2018. Early Years Headcount PortalWith reference to the 30 Hours Free Childcare section of the Early Years Headcount portal, when you log onto the portal you can see from the Home screen how many eligibility dates have expired or are coming to an end on the following icon:Within the 30 Hours Free Childcare Portal there is an ‘Expiration Dashboard’ which is a very useful tool to ensure you are aware of when a child’s eligibility period is running out. The Expiration Dashboard has 3 different filters that show the following:1.Eligibility Ending in the next 180 days2.Grace Period Ending in the next 180 days3.Grace Period Expired in the last 180 daysThe lists are also highlighted with a colour key:RedExpiredOrangeExpiration date coming to an endGreenOKFor those that are red or orange you can recheck by clicking on the ‘Recheck Now’ link. If the parent has reconfirmed with HMRC then the ‘Eligible To’ date will be updated. Where the date has not changed you are advised to contact the parent to remind them to re-confirm their details with HMRC. They can do this by accessing their online childcare account. Schools/childcare providers can signpost parent to or provide to parents the ‘HMRC Systems – Parents Guide’ which is available on the Families Information service website (on the right hand side under ‘downloads and resources’) at: this guide will help parents access their online childcare account and show them where they can re-confirm their eligibility for the 30 hours. It is recommended that you keep a note of expiration dates or check on the Early Years Headcount Portal on a regular basisPlease continue to signpost parents to: The parents own online childcare account for them to reconfirm their eligibility for the 30 hours entitlement every 3 monthsHMRC Customer Service Helpline, Telephone 0300 123 4097 for queries regarding the application process .uk to apply for 30 hours and also to access the childcare calculator .uk/fis for a range of information, advice and support ................
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