The Department for Education have now published a consultation on the early entitlement offers for one and two-year olds, alongside data on local authority funding rates that are due to come into effect in 2024/25.
The DfE is proposing introducing a funding formula for funded children aged two and under that is based on the existing Early Years National Funding Formula for three- and four-year-olds; like the three- and four-year-old formula, under this formula, every local authority will receive the same ‘base rate’ of funding from government.
The consultation focuses on three key areas:
- The formula that will be used in Parliament to determine how much funding for children aged two and under is given to each local authorities in England.
- The funding rules that will be used to determine how much funding for children aged two and under is given to providers by their local authority.
- Other funding streams, such as early years pupil premium (EYPP), disability accessing funding (DAF) and special education needs inclusion funding (SENIF).
The consultation applies to all funded two-year olds under both the current funding entitlement and the new offer for eligible two year olds, in addition to all children aged between 9 months and 2 years for eligible working families.
The consultation is running from Friday 21 July 2023 to Friday 8 September. Respond here.