The Early Years Pupil Premium provides an extra amount of money to the nursery, pre-school etc for three and four year old children whose parents are in receipt of certain qualifying benefits or who have been adopted or are in care.
The provider can use the funding in any way they chose to improve the quality of the early years education that they provide for the children. This could include, for example, additional training for staff on early language, investing in partnership working with colleagues to further their expertise or supporting staff working on specialised areas such as speech and language.
It is well documented that high quality early education can influence how well a child does at both primary and secondary school. A pupil premium has been available for school age children and it has given a real boost to the children receiving the funding.
How do I qualify?
The child must attend a setting in Somerset.
Parents/carers who receive any of the following will qualify for The Early Years Pupil Premium:
- Universal Credit
- Income Support (IS)
- Employment & Support Allowance (Income Related) – not Contribution related
- Income-based Job Seekers Allowance (IBJSA) – not Contribution based
- Guaranteed Element of State Pension Credit.
- Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- Child Tax Credit, providing you do not also receive Working Tax Credit, with an annual taxable income (as assessed by HMRC) of less than £16,190
- Three and four year old children that have been adopted, or who have left care through special guardianship or family arrangement orders
- Three and four year old children who are Looked After by Somerset County Council.
Important
Once we have your details on record we will carry out checks to see whether you are still entitled. In order to perform these checks we need up to date details to confirm continued entitlement. Therefore, you must let us know of any changes of benefit, name or address of the person in your household receiving the qualifying benefit. Incorrect details may lead us to believe that you are no longer entitled to The Early Years Pupil Premium.
The child care provider will be paid The Early Years Pupil Premium directly. The amount paid will depend on the number of hours Early Years Entitlement that is claimed for the child. Child care providers who do not claim the Early Years Entitlement will not receive Early Years Pupil Premium.
Please talk to the childcare provider to find out how the funding is being spent.
If you apply for Early Years Pupil Premium and are informed that you are not eligible, this does not affect your Early Years Entitlement. If your child is 3 or 4, they are still entitled to 570 funded hours over the year. The content of the not eligible letter can be found under Information and resources.
