Whitehouse farm day nursery
Early Years Entitlement Funding

The Government announced from September 2025 most working families with children under the age of 5 will be entitled to 30 hours of childcare support.

To apply for funding you will need to visit Best Start in Life – Best Start in Life to check your options.  You will then need to set up a gateway account at www.gov.uk/sign-in-childcare-account where you will need to provide your supporting documents like your passport, NI numbers or unique taxpayer reference.  Once you have your gateway code you will be able to apply for your childcare code.  It is recommended to start the application process 8 weeks before you are wanting to claim the funding.  All childcare eligibility codes need to be reconfirmed every 3 months, you will receive a reminder from childcare choices, please note it is your responsibility as a parent to do this.

Once you have read through this information you will need to complete the parent declaration form for 2026/2027and a parent contract.

Delivery Model

As the funded hours increased for children aged 9 months to 3 year olds from September 25 we have had to streamline our sessions in order for all parents to be able to access their funded hours.

Standard funding – This is the delivery of either 15 or 30 hours over 38 weeks per year.

Dates – 1^st September to 23^th October 26

                  2^nd November – 18^th December 26

                  4^th January – 12^th February 27

                  22^nd Feb – 25^th March 27

                  12^th April – 28^th May 27

                   7^th  June – 9^th July 27

Sessions for 0 to 3 years –( Babies and Toddlers)

7.45 – 5.45 – 10 hours

7.45 – 12.45 or 12.45 – 5.45 – 5 hours

Sessions for 3+ years – (Pre-school)

7.45 – 5.45 – 10 hours (Full day)

7.45 – 12.45 0r 12.45 – 5.45 – 5 hours

You may claim a combination of these sessions and may add extra hours to the funded sessions.

We will claim up to 570 hours for 15 hours over 38 weeks or 1140 for 30 hours over 38 weeks.

Stretched funding – This is the delivery of 15 /30 hours over 50 weeks, we will deliver 11/22.5 hours per week.  We have changed our delivery from 47.5 weeks to 50 weeks so that the children’s childcare will continue throughout August before they start school and will avoid parents having to pay full nursery fees in August.

Dates – 1^st September to 18^th December 26  (Nursery will be closed from 5.45pm 18^th  December 2026 to 3^rd  January 2027)

                  4^th January to 25^th March 27

                30^th March to 28^th August 27

Sessions for all age groups

8.30 – 4.00 – 7.5 hours

7.45 – 5.45 – 10 hours

7.45 – 1.15 – 5.5 hours

A combination of these sessions can be taken and paid hours can be added to the sessions.

We will claim up to 570 for 15 hours and 1140 hours for 30 hours stretched over 50 weeks. 

Please note that we offer a minimum of 2 sessions per week.

30 hours per week or 1140 hours per year stretched over 50 weeks equals 22.8 hours per week, we will offer 22.5 per week, this will leave 0.3 hours per week, this amount will be banked and each child will have 20 hours to use which can be booked over the year.  We will only claim the hours you request.

15 hours per week is 570 per year hours stretched over 50 weeks equals 11.4 hours per week, we offer 11 hour, this leaves 0.4 hours per week, this amount will be banked and each child will have 15 hours to use which can be booked as extra sessions over the year.  We will only claim the hours you request.

If you choose to take less than the maximum number of hours we will work out how much funding we need to claim to cover the 50 weeks.

Examples of possible sessions

If you opt for 30 hours stretched over 50 weeks you will receive 3 x 7.5 hour days 8.30am to 4.00pm, you may then add any extra hours to increase the session length so if you need a 8.00am till 5.00pm session you would pay for 1.5 hours extra.

If you are claiming 15 hours and are stretching the hours over 50 weeks then you would have 2 x 5.5 hour sessions. You may then add extra hours to increase the length of the session so if you needed 8.00am till 5.00pm you would pay for 4.5 hours.

Additional information and costs

As many parents will be aware there has been a lot of media coverage regarding parents paying for additional services etc, the government states that “Government funding is not intended to cover the costs of meals, other consumables, additional hours or additional services” Yet they are also saying to parents that these charges are voluntary.  This puts us in a difficult place as we want to continue to offer a fantastic environment with lots of outdoor space with well trained staff, this obviously comes at a cost particularly in terms of enhanced staffing ratios.  As a nursery we want to continue to invest and develop our environment to create new spaces for the children to enjoy.  The government wants us to be open and transparent about these, please see the table below for a breakdown of costs. (Please note there is no increase this year)

If you wish to opt out of the food charge you will need to provide all food for you child for each session.  We will require parents to opt in or out for each term, please ensure you put this on your parent contract.  If you wish to opt out of the activities charge, this will be for all activities and special events. Both the food charge and activities charge will be separate on your invoice.

Forest school sessions off site at Manor Farm will continue to run and will be separate from the activity charge, these sessions will be for preschool children only and are £15 extra per session, this includes transport to an offsite woodland using our minibus. Our site includes a fire pit, hammocks, mud kitchen, lots of tree climbing, a range of swings, a tool station and our favourite mountains. Each session is run by a qualified forest school level 3 teacher, along with additional staffing ratios.  This charge also includes rent for the woods and activities (Food will be included as part of the daily food charge) Parents who opt out of the food charge will need to supply food for their child to take to the woods.

There is a non refundable deposit of £75.00 payable to secure any nursery place, however if you are taking a funded only place with no extra hours or sessions then this will be refunded once your child starts nursery.   Please not this deposit secures your child’s place and then covers settling in sessions, for fully funded places settling in sessions will start from when your funding starts.

Swapping sessions

Funded sessions can not be swapped however paid sessions of 5 hours or more may be swapped subject to availability.

Holidays

This academic year the nursery will close for 2 weeks at Christmas (5.45pm on the18^th  December to 3rd January) this will mean all parents will receive 2 weeks no fees.  We will not be claiming any funding over these 2 weeks.

For other times of the year, we will require a weeks’ notice of holidays so we can remove the additional charges from your invoice for any funded sessions.

If you child is absent  from nursery please let us know an hour before their session start time otherwise you will be charged for meals.