EYCC Noticeboard

Early Years and Childcare Update - 26 March 2026

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
  • 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.

Inclusion: Raising Awareness Across All Childcare Settings in Birmingham (Free In Person Workshop) 

Diverse Beginnings: Enhancing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Childcare Settings is our free in-person workshop for all Birmingham providers of Early Years and Childcare. 

This workshop is suitable for all practitioners, managers, provision owners and directors, but spaces are limited.   

We are inviting early years and childcare providers across Birmingham to join us for a powerful in-person workshop designed to support and strengthen inclusive practice in your setting. We’ve listened to the sector and moved this workshop offer away from online formats to create a more impactful, collaborative learning space. 

Why Attend? 

This session is more than just a workshop – it’s a space for real connection, reflection and action.  Developed in response to sector feedback, Diverse Beginnings offers a rare opportunity to come together in person to explore how Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) can be meaningfully embedded across all aspects of early years and childcare provision. 

Together we’ll: 

  • Raise awareness of EDI within the context of early years practice 
  • Explore how EDI principles can be integrated into recruitment, routines, leadership and beyond 
  • Share experiences and reflect with peers in a supportive, face-to-face environment 
  • Feel empowered to champion inclusive and equitable approaches in your own setting 

Why Now? 

The new Ofsted Early Years Toolkit places a strong emphasis on inclusion. From November 2025, Ofsted will be considering: 

“The commitment of leaders and those responsible for governance to provide high standards of education and care to improve the lives of all children, especially those receiving statutory support, including disadvantaged children, those with SEND, those who are known (or previously known) to children’s social care, and those who may face barriers to their learning and/or well-being” 

This workshop will help you strengthen your inclusive practice, with confidence and enhanced clarity. 

Please note spaces are limited. 

This is a free workshop, but places are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.   

Don’t miss out – book your place today and be part of the change. For more information about the venues and to access our booking links, please follow the links below:  

Other inclusion subject-based training and resources available to you for free include: 

Need support? Talk to us: 

If you need advice, guidance or support on any Early Years or Childcare topics, the Birmingham Early Years and Childcare Service is here to help. 

You can speak directly with an experienced Early Years Consultant who can offer support and expert insight. Contact us via our Early Years Duty Line on 0121 675 4996 or email us eyduty@birmingham.gov.uk Monday – Friday between 9am and 5pm except Bank Holidays. 

Two New Free Courses: Strengthen Inclusion with Dingley’s Promise 

Dingley’s Promise are thrilled to launch two brand new, expert-led training courses, fully funded by Comic Relief. 

  1. An Inclusive Approach to Curriculum and Assessment 

This course is designed to help practitioners build the confidence and knowledge to ensure their curriculum is underpinned by inclusive practice. You will learn to make necessary adaptations so your curriculum is accessible for all children and understand how to use effective assessment tools to identify needs early and accelerate learning. 

Inclusive curriculum assessment | Birmingham City Council

  1. Supporting Communication Development for Early Years Children with SEND 

Designed to respond to the growing number of children with early communication challenges, this course explores the stages of development and the barriers children with SEND can face. You will gain the confidence to identify needs and act quickly to support every child's communication journey. 

Developing communication in early years | Birmingham City Council

See the attached leaflets for further course information. 

Sign up to access the new courses here: 

https://forms.office.com/e/V3zvR1cPKr 

Other free courses available from Dingley’s Promise includes: 

  • An introduction to Early Years Inclusive Practice 
  • Early Years SEND Transitions  
  • Managing Behaviours that Challenge   
  • Having Difficult Conversations with Families 
  • Voice of the Child   
  • Leadership and Management for Inclusion 
  • Intersections within Early Years Practice 

You can access these other courses here - Comic Relief Early Years Inclusion Programme - Dingley's Promise but remember, free access to all of these 9 courses is only available for a limited time, so it's a good idea to prioritise completing them while you can!  

NEW Inclusive Practice in Early Years Resources From a Collaboration Between Childcare Works and Dingley’s Promise 

Creating an inclusive environment is essential for every child to thrive. To help you achieve this, Childcare Works, in collaboration with Dingley’s Promise (England’s largest specialist provider of nursery education for children under 5 with SEND) has developed a collection of practical resources designed to support inclusive practice in your setting. 

What’s Included? 

Note: Birmingham’s Ordinarily Available Provision document is called Ordinarily Available Guidance (OAG). 

We have three versions available: 

  1. Early Years Ordinarily Available Guidance 
  2. School Age Ordinarily Available Guidance 
  3. Post-16 Ordinarily Available Guidance 

The Early Years version is currently in draft form but can still be used. 

How to Access: 

Click the links or visit: Dingley’s Promise and Childcare Works: Inclusive Practice in the Early Years 

Early Education Entitlement 

Disability Access Fund Summer 2026 Term

Disability access fund – Is a one off annual payment of £975 for each eligible child in your setting.   

  • DAF can be claimed once per year, which can help with children’s education and support.   
  • You must ensure that any child who you claim DAF for is in receipt of Disability Living Allowance  
  • There is a section on the parental declaration form which must be completed for eligible children. 

You can make a claim on your headcount claim on portal; you should only make one claim per year (April-March). This will be paid in full in your final 20% payment. 

You can apply for all age groups and entitlements. Children do not need to access their full entitlement in order for you to claim disability access funding. 

Children being in receipt of EYPP or ISEY funding does not qualify them for Disability Access Fund. Only children in receipt of DLA will be eligible for DAF. Please ensure you retain evidence of DLA (for a minimum of 6 years).  Failure to provide this during audit will result in clawback. 

Please speak to your parents to find out if children are eligible. 

Looked After Children's Eligibility Summer Term 2026

For looked after children there are two different routes for funded childcare.

1) Foster Carers Who Are in Paid Employment Outside of their Foster Care Role: 

If the foster carers are in paid employment outside of their foster care role, then they can apply for working entitlement, however they cannot apply via the childcare choices website. Applications need to be made to the local authority responsible for the child – so if the child has a Birmingham Social Worker that will be us. If the child has a Social Worker from Sandwell or Walsall for example, then applications must be made to that local authority.  

For looked after children with a Birmingham Social Worker – the foster carer or Social worker can email us (earlyeducation@birmingham.gov.uk) for an application form, which must be completed by both the foster carer(s) and the social worker, and we will issue the working entitlement code. The same deadlines as childcare choices for applying for working entitlement, applies to looked after children: 31st March for Summer term. 

  • Looked after children aged 9 months to 23 months are eligible for 30 funded working entitlement hours. 
  • Looked after children aged 2-years-old are eligible for 15 working entitlement hours and 15 disadvantaged hours (totalling 30 hours). 
  • 3- and 4-year-old looked after children are eligible for 30 working entitlement hours.  

2) Foster Carers Who Are Not in Paid Employment Outside of their Foster Care Role: 

Looked after children (and other children that meet the disadvantaged funding offer) aged 2-years-old are entitled to 15 hours.  

They must get an eligibility code from here if they are going to a private nursery or childminder: Eligibility / or from here if they are going to a nursery school: Online EYE Application  

There is not a deadline to get this code other than that they need it before they start their funded childcare place.  

All children aged 3- and 4-years-old are entitled to 15 hours without a code. 

New Owners and Directors

If you have a change in the ownership of your childcare setting your EEE registration is no longer valid – even if the staffing / children do not change. If ownership changes you must inform earlyeducation@birmingham.gov.uk as soon as possible before the change happens as it will affect your payments. A change in ownership means that you get a new Ofsted registration number and this means that you have to have a new portal set up and a new Impulse ID with us and we cannot release payments to the old registration.  

Please ensure that you contact us as soon as possible so that we can send the new owners a new registration pack for completion and return and avoid any delay in the release of Early Education Entitlement. All EEE payments will be held until the completion of a new registration is completed so it is imperative that you act quickly.

Speech, Language and Communication (SLC) and the Home Learning Environment (HLE)

WellComm Data Collection for Schools and Nursery Schools 

For the attention of schools and nursery schools. 

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. We ask each setting to share their termly screening data with us so that we can track the impact of the WellComm screening tool. For schools and nursery schools we collect your WellComm data via an online form each term. The Autumn term data collection form is now available for schools and nursery Schools. If you are a day nursery or childminder, you do not complete this form. 

The deadline for the form to be submitted is 31st March 2026. 

To complete the survey, please click here.

Introduction to WellComm training 

For the attention of EEE providers.

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. Birmingham City Council will fully fund one WellComm Toolkit for all schools, nurseries, pre-schools, and childminders registered to offer Early Education Entitlement (EEE) places. Early Years settings need to attend an ‘Introduction to WellComm’ workshop. During the workshop, you will be provided with instructions on how to receive your 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. 

Please click the link next to your preferred date to book your place:

 

This entry was posted by Jessica Wykes on 24/03/2026.

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