Your child is normally entitled to funding from the term after their third birthday.

If your child attends an LEA setting you cannot claim funding. If your child attends another private setting you can claim funding but you need to confirm this on your parent declaration form. Some local authorities will allow you to claim all of the sessions your child attends and then divide the funding proportionally between the settings. Others will only pay for a maximum of five sessions a week.

The LEA funding follows the LEA school terms of Autumn, Spring and Summer to a total of 33 weeks a year. We pay 11 weeks each term regardless of the number of weeks in the current term at the LEA schools.

The amount you will receive varies between the different LEA’s. Please see the pdf document below for this term’s payments for five sessions a week. To calculate the amount for a child attending less than five sessions, take the five sessions amount and divide by 11 weeks and then by five sessions, this will give you an amount per session (eg £426.00 divided by 11 and then by 5 gives you a sessions rate of £7.75). You then multiply this figure by the number of sessions the child attends, then multiply that number by 11 to get the amount for that term (eg £7.75 times 3 sessions then by 11 weeks gives you £255.75 for a child attending three sessions a week). Please remember that the amounts will vary between LEAs.

The LEA pays for two and a half hours for a maximum of five sessions a week. Baby Elephants sessions are longer than this and we are open for more than the 33 weeks a year, so top up fees are to be paid.

We need the copy of the birth certificate to confirm your child’s date of birth. You only need to supply it the first time we make a claim for your child.

You can order a copy of your child’s birth certificate from www.gro.gov.uk

Both Baby Elephants and the LEA require you to sign a Parent Declaration Form for each term you claim funding. A new form must be completed to enable us to complete the Head Count form accurately and to pay you the correct amount of funding. The LEA can audit us at any time to ensure that we are paying you in the correct manner and we need to be able to provide them with the forms.

If you fail to return your PDF the funding that we have paid to you will be reclaimed on March (Spring), June (Summer) or November (Autumn) invoices and repaid to the LEA. We will not claim for your child the following term.

We understand that some parents may not wish to claim the funding as it can complicate claims with working family tax credit. We do still require you to complete the PDF and to state that you do not wish to claim funding, please make this clear on the form . It is also desirable for you to send a letter to confirm this.