EYCC Noticeboard

Early Years and Childcare Update - 27 August 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.

Who needs a Nexus Provider Portal account?

The Nexus Provider Portal is required for Private, Voluntary and Independent (PVI) providers that have registered provision for children of all ages. It is also required for Maintained Nursery Schools (MNS) where there is registered PVI provision for children under two years old.

School-based nurseries and schools do NOT require a Nexus Provider Portal account. These settings should continue to use Pendulum for all funding and provider-related processes

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

Dates for Your Diary: Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) and Safeguarding Update Sessions 2026-2027

Stay informed. Stay compliant. Keep children safe. 

Birmingham’s Early Years and Childcare Service is pleased to invite Designated Safeguarding Leads, managers, leaders and safeguarding practitioners to our upcoming DSL and Safeguarding Update Sessions. 

These sessions are led by our Early Years Safeguarding Officers and will provide the latest safeguarding information, updates to statutory guidance, emerging themes, local developments and key considerations for early years and childcare providers. 

Dates for Your Diary 

Autumn term 2026: 

  • Tuesday 20th October 2026, 9:30am to 10:30am 
  • Wednesday 21st October 2026, 2:30pm to 3:30pm or 6:00pm to 7:00pm 

Spring term 2027: 

  • Tuesday 9th February 2027, 9:30am to 10:30am 
  • Wednesday 10th February 2027, 2:30pm to 3:30pm or 6:00pm to 7:00pm 

Summer term 2027: 

  • Tuesday 22nd June 2027, 9:30am to 10:30am 
  • Wednesday 23rd June 2027, 2:30pm to 3:30pm or 6:00pm to 7:00pm 

What to Expect 

  • National and local safeguarding updates 
  • Emerging safeguarding concerns and trends 
  • Key learning from practice and inspections 
  • Opportunities for questions and discussion 
  • Networking with colleagues across the sector 

These sessions are designed to help settings maintain effective safeguarding arrangements and ensure children remain safe, supported and protected. 

Each session will be held online; booking information will be shared separately. 

Note: Additional dates may be added throughout the year in response to emerging safeguarding updates and changes to guidance.  Please keep an eye on the EYCC Noticeboard for further announcements. 

Early Years Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

New training course for reception teachers and early years CPD available now.

Key Information 

The Department for Education (DfE) is increasing the amount of training that early years educators, including reception teachers, can access.  This includes: 

Click on each programme to find out more, including details on how to apply. 

Note:  Starts for the National Professional Qualification (NPQ) programmes and the Excellence in Reception Teaching course will begin in Autumn 2026, with registrations opening on 23 June 2026 and 6 July 2026 respectively.  Registrations for the early years child development training are open now. 

Other CPD Offers for Early Years and Reception Educators: 

Why is such training being made available now? 

On 7 July 2025, DfE launched the Giving every child the best start in life strategy, which is known as Best Start Brum across Birmingham.  This included a commitment to improve the quality of education that children receive in early years settings, including childminders and reception classes.  To honour this commitment, the above listed training offers have been designed specifically for early years educators. 

School Based Nursery Phase 3 Capital Funding Programme

A fantastic opportunity for schools to increase the capacity of their existing nursery provision or create a new nursery provision subject to meeting eligibility criteria. 

The Department for Education has recently rolled out Phase 3 of the School Based Nursery Capital Programme. 

The purpose of the programme is for schools to either increase the number of early education places for (0- to 4-year-olds) in their existing early years provision or create places at a new provision based on the school site to meet an unmet gap in the local area where the school is located. 

The funding will only support capital costs associated with the refurbishment or repurposing of existing space on the school site. 

The funding opportunity is aimed at all state funded schools e.g. Maintained Nursery Schools, Primary Schools and all through schools with Primary provision. 

If you are a school interested in this funding opportunity, please email Kevin.Caulfield@birmingham.gov.uk and Rebekah.Horton@birmingham.gov.uk directly so we can set up a meeting to discuss your proposal and share information regarding the application process and eligibility.

Early Education Entitlement

Parental Declaration Form Update Autumn term

Please note: This is for the attention of PVIs only.  

As you are aware from previous communications, we have updated the parent declaration form (version 19) to be used from Autumn 2026 for all new and existing children. 

The 2-year funding – formerly known as “disadvantaged” or “families in receipt of additional support (FRAS)”.  This has been renamed as “Early Learning for 2-year-olds” by the DfE.  

Please note: the criteria for 2-year-old funding has not changed and the process for applying for it has not changed. 

Some parents will qualify for both working and early learning 2 year old places. Please ensure that parents have both codes as required. 

You are required to submit the child’s NHS number onto the EEE portal when you enter your headcount claim. 

Please ensure that parents are supported to understand what they are signing the parent declaration form for, and that all forms are fully completed at the beginning of every term. Dates of birth, names, addresses and NHS numbers must be verified against official documents such as a birth certificate or passport.  

All eligibility codes must be checked and validated to ensure that they are eligible for the term they are going to be used for. 

The parent declaration form can be found here: Parent declaration form - September 2026 | Birmingham City Council but it can also be found on the BCC document library.  

NHS Numbers 

You will note that the NHS number is now required for headcount claims.  You will need to add each child’s NHS number onto the EEE portal when you enter your headcount claim.  

Please ensure the following:  

  • You include a valid and checked NHS number on the portal submission 
  • You review official documentation to confirm the correct NHS number is recorded on the parent declaration form / submitted onto the portal 
  • You must not leave the NHS field blank 
  • You must not enter a false or made up number  
  • If a child legitimately does not have an NHS number (new to country / not registered with GP etc), please contact us before portal opens so that we can provide them with a reference to use 

Please also refer to the following: 

If a family hasn’t registered with a GP or needs help finding their NHS number, the following links can be shared with parents: 

Consumables 

The Early education and childcare statutory guidance is clear that anything provided over and above the free hours must be voluntary to parents. Your chargeable extras need to be clear, up to date and easily accessible and from January 2026 they must be included on your website where you have one.  

Your invoices and receipts must be itemised and provide a clear break down of the free hours, additional paid hours, food charges, non-food charges, activity charges.  

You can charge for: 

  • consumables to be used by the child, such as nappies or sun cream 
  • meals and snacks consumed by the child 
  • extra optional activities such as events, celebrations, specialist tuition (for example music classes or foreign languages) or other activities that are not directly related or necessary for the effective delivery of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework 
  • additional, private paid hours according to your usual terms and conditions provided that taking up private paid hours is not a condition of accessing a free place 

You cannot make the following charges:  

  • top-up fees (any difference between a provider’s normal charge to parents and the funding they receive from the local authority to deliver free places). 
  • the supply of or use of any materials, including, but not limited to, craft materials, crayons, paper, books, instruments, toys, or other equipment or learning resources that are necessary for the effective delivery of childcare 
  • business running costs, including, but not limited to, rent, staff wages, cleaning materials, insurance, or utility bills such as energy, gas or water 
  • registration fees as a condition of taking up a child’s free entitlement place 
  • non-refundable deposits as a condition of taking up a child’s entitlement place 
  • general charges, including but not limited to, non-itemised enrichment charges, sustainability charges, business continuity charges, additional charges, enhanced ratios, hourly rates, or any other supplementary charges on top of the free hours 
  • any additional fees that are not specifically identified and itemised as being for chargeable extras as described in A1.33. 

You cannot ask parents to collect their children in the middle of a funded day to feed their children and return them back to the setting, or for example, only offer 10- midday and 1-3 entitlement hours with only private hours in between, as this is not reasonable and creates an artificial break in the day. 

Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) Funding – Are children in your setting missing out? 

Do you deliver government-funded Early Education Entitlement (EEE) hours in your setting? 

If the answer is yes, you may be able to claim Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) for eligible children attending your provision. 

What is EYPP? 

The Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) provides additional funding to support improved outcomes for disadvantaged children.  When used effectively, it can help settings strengthen children's learning, development and wellbeing through high-quality, evidence-informed practice. 

Who is eligible? 

Children may be eligible for EYPP if they meet one or more of the following criteria: 

  • Their parent or carer receives certain qualifying benefits 
  • They are currently looked after by a local authority 
  • They have previously been looked after and left care through adoption, a Special Guardianship Order, or a Child Arrangements Order 

Why does claiming EYPP matter? 

We have identified that some Birmingham providers are not currently claiming EYPP.  This means settings may be missing out on valuable additional funding and, more importantly, children may be missing opportunities to benefit from support that could further enhance their learning, development and wellbeing. 

It is also important to remember that EYPP is about impact, not just the claiming of funding. Effective use of EYPP should focus on improving outcomes through high-quality practice, staff development, communication and language support and improvements to the learning environment.  Funding should be considered strategically and used to benefit eligible children collectively, rather than being viewed solely as funding for individual children. 

Act Now – EYPP Cannot Be Claimed Retrospectively 

The Early Years and Childcare Service is encouraging all eligible providers to review their current EYPP claims. 

EYPP funding is only available from the point at which eligibility has been confirmed and a claim has been submitted.  Claims cannot be backdated. 

To ensure your setting and children do not miss out, we recommend that: 

  • Eligibility checks are sensitively completed in collaboration with parents or carers as early as possible. 
  • EYPP claims are submitted promptly alongside funded hours claims. 
  • Robust systems are in place to regularly review eligibility throughout the year. 

Key Actions for Providers 

  • Review children currently attending your setting who may be eligible for EYPP. 
  • Encourage parents and carers to complete EYPP declaration forms where appropriate. 
  • Incorporate EYPP eligibility checks into admissions procedures and termly review processes. 
  • Regularly review how EYPP funding is being used and the impact it is having on children's outcomes. 

Access Further Information or Support 

For detailed information about EYPP, including eligibility guidance, practical examples and evidence-informed approaches to spending EYPP funding effectively, please see: 
Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP): Making Every Penny Count 

Free school meals and early years pupil premium | Free childcare and education for children aged 9 months to 4 years | Birmingham City Council 

For advice and support relating to EYPP, please contact your District Early Years Consultant or the Early Years Duty Service: 

Monday to Friday, 9:00am – 5:00pm (excluding Bank Holidays) 

For queries specifically relating to funding payments or the application process, please contact the Early Education Entitlement Team: 

Every eligible child identified is an opportunity to secure additional funding that can help improve outcomes and narrow developmental gaps for Birmingham's children. 

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

WellComm Data Collection for 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 school 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 Summer 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 August 2026. 

To complete the survey, please click Primary Schools and Maintained Nursery Schools WellComm Data Collection Summer 2026 – Fill in form 

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:

DSL Network for School Aged Childcare Providers

For the attention of Out of School Clubs, Wraparound Providers, and Holiday Playschemes. 

This session is aimed at setting managers and DSLs (Designated Safeguarding Leads) who work with children aged over 5 (wraparound, out of school, holiday playschemes & HAF providers). 

These sessions are led by a Safeguarding Officer and will provide the latest safeguarding information, updates to statutory guidance, emerging themes, local developments and key considerations for providers of school aged childcare. 

These sessions are designed to help settings maintain effective safeguarding arrangements and ensure children remain safe, supported and protected. 

This entry was posted by Jessica Wykes on 25/08/2026.

Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

  • Share on linked in