Funding for 2 year olds
Up to 12.5 hours per week of free early education and childcare
is available to eligible 2 year olds from September 2012 as part of
the Government's strategy to extend the offer of free early
education and childcare.
In order to be eligible families must meet the following
criteria:
The child must be two years of age.
If the application is being made for a child currently looked
after by the local authority then they are automatically eligible
for two year old funding (an application form will still need to be
completed).
For all other children, the family
must be in receipt of one of the following income
based benefits:
- Income
support
- Income based
Jobseekers Allowance
- Higher rate Child Tax Credit
- Disability
related Working Tax Credit
- Pension
Credit
And must meet at least one of
the following:
- Live in
specific areas of deprivation in one of the following wards:
Castle, Cauldwell, De Parys, Eastcotts, Goldington, Kempston,
Kingsbrook, Harpur, Queens Park
- Be a teenage parent (not
accessing Care to Learn funding)
- Be a lone
parent
- Child or sibling with additional needs in receipt of services
from the Child Development Centre, Early Years Support Team and/or
specialist services
- Be at risk of Post Natal Depression (PND) as identified
by a health professional
- A parent with an additional need including those with a
disability, experiencing domestic abuse, mental health problems or
problematic drugs and/or alcohol issues
- Be a parent accessing Income Related Employment Support
Allowance (ESA)
- A child subject to Section 17 or Section 47 of the Children Act
1989 (a child in need or a child subject to a child protection
plan)
Making an application
In order to obtain 2 year old funding the
child will need to be registered at a local
Children's Centre. To apply please visit your local Children's
Centre and ask a family worker to complete the forms with you.
Completed application forms should be
sent to:
Lindsey Salisbury
Outreach Officer - Funding for 2
Year Olds
Bedford Borough Council
5th Floor
Borough Hall
Cauldwell Street
Bedford
MK42 9AP
Approval of Application
Once the application forms are received by
Bedford Borough Council the application will either be approved or
rejected. We aim to inform the parent or referring professional
within one week after receiving the application form. As
places are limited applications will be placed on a waiting list if
all the funding has been allocated. You may find this flowchart outlining
the application process useful.
Finding a childcare setting
A parent may be aware of a childcare setting
that they would like to use and can specify this on the application
form. Otherwise our Outreach Officer will support the parent
to find a suitable childcare setting for their child.
Only childcare settings that meet the
following criteria can be used:
- Have a good
or outstanding Ofsted inspection outcome or be actively working
towards a good rating
- Regularly
evaluate the quality of their provision through an improvement
process
Bedford Borough Council will organise the
funding direct with the chosen childcare setting.
Ongoing support
The Outreach Officer will provide, where
necessary, ongoing support for parents which may include greeting
the parent at the childcare setting on their first day or calling
the parent to see how they are getting on.
Please refer to our leaflet Free Early
Education and Childcare for 2 year olds for
parents (PDF opens in new window) for more
information.
To find out more information please contact the Family
Information Service on 0800 023 2057 or email
fis@bedford.gov.uk