EYCC Noticeboard

Early Years and Childcare Update - 11 September 2025

Welcome to this week's Early Years and Childcare update!

This week's update includes information on:

Please feel free to share this update with anyone you think would benefit from accessing this content. 

If you have any questions or feedback, please contact familyinformation@birmingham.gov.uk

Nominate a Provider Portal User

As you may already be aware, the Early Years and Childcare Team has launched a new Information Portal for providers called the Nexus Provider Portal. 

Many providers have already nominated a Nexus Provider Portal user. If you haven’t already done so, please do this today using our online form. You can have accounts for up to four people within your organisation. 

The introduction of this portal will enable us to:

  • strengthen the information that we collect from you to support our sufficiency data
  • improve the information that we can provide to parents and third parties when they are looking for childcare options
  • contact you more efficiently.  

Please note: Completing this form does not immediately create your account. After we verify the nominated user form, we will send you a link to create your Provider Portal account.

If you have any queries about the Nexus Provider Portal, please contact FamilyInformation@birmingham.gov.uk.

Wraparound Funding Opportunities

Millions in school funding still available.

Wraparound Childcare Grant Funding Opportunity  

As part of the government’s ambition, by September 2026 all parents and carers of primary school-aged children who need it should be able to access Wraparound childcare between 8:00am and 6:00pm during term time.  

Whether your school is planning to launch a new club or expand an existing one, we encourage providers to take advantage of the available funding. This is a valuable opportunity to establish new provision or increase the capacity of current clubs to better meet the needs of local families.  

What can you apply for?  

  • Creation of places: Create both new before school provision and after-school provision - where there is currently no provision.  
  • Extend hours: Extend the hours to meet full wraparound definition (8am to 6pm) - where you already provide wraparound, but it does not meet the 8am to 6pm expectation.  
  • Expand provision: Introduce before school provision or after school provision - where you have no existing provision in place to meet the full wraparound definition or increase the number of places currently on offer.  

Benefits of wraparound care provision  

  • Boost Attendance and Engagement - Children thrive with consistent routines and enriching activities that make school a place they love to be.  
  • Support Working Families - Flexible care options help parents balance work and family life, reducing stress and increasing satisfaction.  
  • Enhance Learning and Wellbeing - From homework clubs to creative arts, sports, and mindfulness — WAC offers holistic development in a safe, inclusive environment.  
  • Strengthen Community Ties - Your school becomes more than a place of learning — it becomes a trusted space for growth, connection, and opportunity.  
  • Makes your school more appealing to families - As more parents return to work, schools that offer flexible childcare options become increasingly attractive.     

Why apply?  

By applying for the Wraparound childcare grant you could receive:  

  • Thousands of pounds in funding to cover initial start-up costs for staffing, purchase of equipment, marketing and day to day premise costs.  
  • Tailored support from your own Development worker to support you through the application process.  
  • Parent survey templates to help ascertain parental demand  
  • Step by step guidance to support with hosting a PVI to run your Wraparound childcare provision  

How do you get involved?  

We’re inviting you to be part of this exciting journey. If you recognise that this is an opportunity not to be missed, complete the quick expression of interest form to determine whether your application is likely to be successful and walk you through the process.  

Still have questions? Contact us at WAC@birmingham.gov.uk   

Let’s work together to make school a place where every child has the chance to shine — before, during, and after the school day.  

Early Education Entitlement

Headcount Information

Headcount day is Thursday the 2nd of October 2025 and this is when the EEE Portal will open for you to submit your headcount claims.  All funded children must have started with you on or before headcount date, but you will have until the 9th October to submit your claim.     

The Autumn term is 13 weeks. 

To make sure that you are able to submit your claim as smoothly as possible please make sure you have done the following before headcount opens: 

  • The appropriate contact has portal access  
  • All children’s details are accurate and ready to enter onto the EEE Portal 
  • All overrides are requested the day before portal opens. 

Please also ensure: 

  • All codes for disadvantaged 2-year-olds and working codes have been checked and are eligible before allowing children to start
  • Existing children’s codes have been reconfirmed before the start of term 

If you need to contact us for any support please email earlyeducation@birmingham.gov.uk and remember to include your name, your setting name and your setting ID.  

Please ensure that all eligibility override requests are submitted no later than Wednesday the 1st of October.  

Thank you for your continued cooperation. 

2-year-olds: Disadvantaged and Working

All Providers: 

Working Code Application via HMRC 

Working entitlement will be increasing to 30 hours from Autumn 2025 term. 

From September 2025 any child who meets the eligibility criteria for both the disadvantaged and working entitlement will be advised to claim 15 hours of each entitlement. 

  • 15 hours disadvantaged funding – with an eligible EY2 code. 
  • 15 hours of working entitlement with a valid and eligible working code. 

Providers must confirm the eligibility of both codes – working codes must have a validity start date before the start of term.   

If the parent loses their working entitlement, they can continue to claim the disadvantaged funding.

Parental Declarations 

For the Autumn 2025 term children need to be in attendance with you for headcount day as per the terms and conditions of funding detailed in the EEE Provider Agreement in order for you to receive funding. 

The Provider Agreement states: 

8.12. Providers must discuss and explain the parental declaration or equivalent verbally with parents to ensure it is understood and does not present a barrier to accessing the early education entitlement, prior to parents signing the documentation. The Provider must ensure that the parental declaration or equivalent is completed in English for each child entitled to an early education entitlement place. If a parent is unable to understand what they are declaring or agreeing to, the provider must provide the appropriate translation support. If this support is not available, the provider must contact earlyeducation@birmingham.gov.uk requesting the appropriate support.  

8.13. A parental declaration or equivalent must be signed, fully completed, or updated for each term the child is in attendance at a provider, even if there is no change. Parents should only agree one term at a time and are not required to sign up to a full academic year. The parental declaration form must confirm when a parent is using multiple providers to access their entitlement and must clearly detail how many funded hours are being accessed at each provider and on which days, they are accessing those hours. 

Parental declarations must be signed before the start of every term by both parent and provider. Please note that children must be in attendance on or before headcount date in order to claim a funded place for Autumn term. If children don’t start with you until very close to headcount date, please ask whether they have visited / attended / signed up to another setting before coming to you. If they have – have they told the other setting that they are not going back? In the event of a duplicate claim a fully completed parental declaration form can help ensure that you get any funding for children who have attended your provision, however, please note that if a parent has signed a parent declaration form at another setting the funding may be split in line with the terms and conditions of funding. 

Please ensure you include any eligibility codes and complete the schedule of planned attendance, this provides a clear picture of what hours and days the child is attending, the start date for each term, and if they attend more than one provider. This also shows if children stretch their provision over more than 38 weeks of the year. For working parents of 3-& 4-year-olds who use two providers, it is also really important to state who the Universal provider, this must be the parent’s decision.   

Please complete the parental declaration form with your parents – it is an opportunity to get to know parents and an opportunity to have conversations with them about whether they have registered at another provider, you can then discuss the implication of funding and the potential costs for parents and the provider involved in duplicate claims. 

Please find attached a good example of a completed parental declaration form - the more thoroughly that the form is completed, the less likely we are to request additional information from you. 

WellComm Data Collection and Training 

Deadline Extension for Summer Term WellComm Data Collection 

Thank you to the settings that have returned the Summer Term WellComm Data Collection Form. If you have not yet had chance to submit your screening results, we have extended the deadline for submission to Friday the 12th of September 2025. 

Complete the survey here: forms.office.com/e/zmqGdc52Jy

Autumn Term WellComm Data Collection on EEE Portal 

From this term all PVI settings will add the WellComm screening results for each child on the EEE portal alongside headcount submission.  

To assist you in planning your WellComm screenings for the Autumn Term the EEE portal will open for headcount on Thursday 2nd October and close on Thursday 9th October. If you require any support with this, please contact eyduty@birmingham.gov.uk  

WellComm is the approved screening tool in Birmingham, and it supports a consistent universal approach to assessing and supporting children’s speech, language and communication needs. If you are not yet using WellComm to screen your children’s speech and language, please attend one of our online training sessions to receive your free WellComm toolkit. Settings that have received a WellComm screening tool can continue to send staff that are new or require a refresher of how to use WellComm onto the training. We have training sessions available until the end of the year. Please click your preferred date to book your place.

WellComm data collection sessions for PVI settings 

We will be holding 3 online sessions to demonstrate how to use the WellComm data spreadsheet to collate your screening data and prepare for sharing your WellComm screens on the EEE portal. You will have the opportunity to ask questions and be signposted to practical support if required. Please use the booking links below for your preferred date. 

BBC CBeebies Parenting – Skills for Starting School: Free, Fun Activities and Resources Supporting Children’s Development

For the attention of Schools and Nurseries. 

CBeebies Parenting has NEW content to help parents/caregivers across the UK support their pre-schoolers as they prepare for school, whether it’s this year or in coming years.

Check out the ‘Skills for starting school’ and the Starting School collections on the CBeebies Parenting website for free, expert advice and evidence based activity ideas to help parents/caregivers support their children’s development.

Find help with everything from taking turns and sharing, to introducing the potty and toilet independence, to managing separation anxiety. All activities can help boost children’s language development  and new Hey Duggee films support a range of skills including listening and attention.

Visit the website for more on:

All content is developed and created with Health, Early Years Education and Speech and Language experts.

Copy links and share all content for FREE with families you work with.   

If you want to contact the team directly for more information about how to use the content in your service, please use the email CBeebiesparenting@bbc.co.uk

Professional teams:

To find out more about BBC CBeebies Parenting join one of the free monthly Champions Training sessions. This virtual 45min session explains what’s available and how you can use the information with families you work with.

Check out the Professional section as well for key content and resources to print and share.  

Sign up for the monthly newsletter for regular updates.

If you want to contact the team directly for more information about how to use the content in your service, please use the email  CBeebiesparenting@bbc.co.uk

This entry was posted by Jessica Wykes on 11/09/2025.

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