Early years pupil premium

This is additional funding for early education providers to support the education of disadvantaged 3 and 4 year old children. To find out who qualifies, see early years pupil premium eligibility criteria.

It is paid at the national rate of 62p per hour for eligible children claiming a free place. This equates to an additional £353.40 for a child receiving the full 570 hour entitlement. This will rise to 66p per hour from 1 September until March 2024. It is only payable for the universal 15 hours per week. This means providers will receive £376.20 per year for each eligible child who takes up their universal hours.

Eligibility checks and payments

Eligibility for Early Years Pupil Premium is checked by providers on the Education Portal. You will receive an instant response to confirm if a child is eligible, this information is stored in the portall so you can quickly check who in your setting is in receipt of the funding. It is reccomended that all children are checked for eligibility when they start to access a funded place. Ensure you obtain the relevant permissions from the child's parent/carer to complete the check.  

  • For private providers, funding due for the term will be paid with the claim payment.
  • For schools, funding due will be paid through the monthly adjustments system.

Care leavers

Children who have left care through an adoption order, special guardianship order or child arrangements order qualify for early years pupil premium. For these children, providers should request a copy of the evidence to support this and email early.education@trafford.gov.uk to confirm they have seen the evidence. These children will then be included in your payment.

Looked after children

For these children, the additional funding is paid to the Trafford Virtual School for looked after children. It will be passed on to providers through the Personal Education Plan (PEP) process.

Spending early years pupil premium

The additional funding needs to be spent to meet the individual needs of your children, their families and your setting. You will need to demonstrate to Ofsted which children were eligible for the funding, how you have spent it and how it has benefited your setting. Ofsted inspections will report on whether it has been spent effectively. There is an early years pupil premium toolkit on the early education website.