Nursery Education Funding (NEF)

Worcestershire directory of funded providers

All early years providers who wish to offer funded places for eligible children aged 9 months to five years of age within Worcestershire, must be registered with the Council to be included on the Worcestershire Directory of Funded Providers. 

By registering, early years providers agree to abide by the national guidance document: Early Education and Childcare; Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities and the local guidance document The Worcestershire Provider Agreement (PDF).

Provider requirements

All providers wishing to offer Nursery Education Funding must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage in line with all principles and requirements, as set out in the 'Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage or have an official exemption.

Providers must be registered with one of the following organisations:

• early years Ofsted
• schools Ofsted and DfE
• Independent Schools Inspectorate
• a registered childminder agency

Providers who are judged by Ofsted as ‘Inadequate’ or 'Not Met' are unable to register to offer funded places within Worcestershire.

Providers who are judged by Ofsted as ‘Requires Improvement’ are unable to register to offer funding for two year olds from families in receipt of additional Government support (Two Year Old Funding) within Worcestershire.

Register to offer nursery education funding within Worcestershire

Providers who wish to register to offer NEF within Worcestershire must email eycsystems@worcestershire.gov.uk for an NEF registration pack. All forms must be completed and returned before a provider can be included on the Worcestershire Directory of Funded Providers. 

Providers can contact the NEF Team to discuss any aspect of the registration documentation.

Telephone: 01905 844441
Email: NEF@worcestershire.gov.uk

NEF Audits are carried out to ensure that all settings who are funded to deliver NEF within Worcestershire are adhering to the Worcestershire Provider Agreement and are therefore allowing families to access their free entitlement.

The following criteria will be used to prioritise when an NEF audit is carried out:

• settings where the NEF team, schools finance team or early years team have concerns from visits, phone calls or repeated problems with funding claims and/or payments
• settings that have been highlighted by phone calls from parents and carers
• on closure of business, financial records with the Council will not be finalised and closed until the audit has been completed
• new settings within the first 3 terms of business
• at random, based on the capacity of the NEF Team.

NEF Audits are carried out to confirm:

• accuracy of funding claims
• accuracy of funding payments, including Inclusion funding
• adherence to the Worcestershire Provider Agreement
• parents are able to access their child’s free entitlement without having to pay any additional fees

Providers who have been selected for an NEF Audit will need to present the following information:

• copies of registers (daily attendance sheets) for the audited term
• copies of all Parent Declaration Forms for the audited term
• copies of all parental invoices, bills or statements for a period within the audited term
• evidence supporting the level of need for any funded child receiving an inclusion supplement
• details of the way in which providers offer the free entitlement, which should include
  • a copy of the fee structure
  • a copy of a registration form/contract
  • any funding related information used by the provider for parents and carers

There are a range of funding offers in place, dependent upon the child’s age and the eligibility criteria they meet:

All funding offers can commence from the term after the child meets both the eligibility criteria and the relevant age:

Eligibility criteria and application processes can be found at funded childcare and ways of paying.

Providers can choose how they offer Nursery Education Funding at their setting, as long as they follow the national guidance:

• no session to be longer than 10 funded hours
• funded hours cannot be offered before 6:00am or after 8:00pm
• funded hours must be offered as a continuous session, without ‘artificial breaks’
• funded hours can be accessed across a maximum of two sites in any single day

Parents and carers must be given clear information about what is on offer at a setting. This must include what is available for ‘free’ as part of the funded hours along with the cost of additional hours and services which parents or carers can choose to access. 

Parents and carers can be charged a deposit to secure their child’s funded place, however this must be refunded by the end of the first term of attendance.

Providers can choose to limit the number of completely free places that are available at the setting. The criteria for allocating these places must be clearly set out in their admissions policy. The admissions policy should be available to all parents and carers.

Stretched Funding

The annual number of funded hours available for a child are based on 38 weeks of the year (term-time), however providers can choose to offer the hours ‘stretched’ over more than 38 weeks.

The number of hours available to a child will depend on when they start accessing funded hours. The maximum annual allocation is based on attendance starting in September. A proportionate number of hours will be available for a child who starts attending or becomes eligible for funded hours after September.

NEF information for parents and carers in Worcestershire can be found here, Funded Childcare.

The Council complies with Department for Education statutory guidance (Early education and childcare - Statutory guidance for local authorities – April 2024) and as such meets both the requirements and the recommendations of this guidance in order to ensure that as far as possible ‘all children are able to take up their free hours in a high-quality setting’. (DfE 2024)

The Council therefore funds places where the provider meets the quality requirements and is willing to accept the local authority funding requirements.

The Council will withdraw a provider from the Directory of Funded Providers if they are not willing to accept the local authority funding requirements, or they do not meet the quality requirements and there are sufficient places elsewhere, which meet the needs of the children and families.

Download a copy of the Termination and Withdrawal of NEF Policy 2024 (PDF).

For queries regarding any of the functions listed above:
Telephone: 01905 844441
Email: NEF@worcestershire.gov.uk

For queries regarding the NEF claims process and provider payments:
Telephone: 01905 844494
Email: eyfunding@worcestershire.gov.uk

For queries regarding access to the Online Provider Portal and/or the Children’s Services Portal (CSP):
Telephone: 01905 844954
Email: eycsystems@worcestershire.gov.uk

For parent and carer queries regarding Nursery Education Funding, please contact your local Family Hub.

Information on funding

Information about Funded childcare for parents and carers