About early years funded places

Early years funded places are also known as:

• the early years entitlement
• funded entitlement
• funded hours

These apply to:

• Targeted 2-year-old funding 
• Universal entitlement for children aged 3 and 4 
• Working parent entitlement

A child's eligibility for the early years entitlements is based on their date of birth. These are set by the Department for Education and are shown in the table below.

School term dates are not considered when assessing eligibility.
 

Before claiming

Before a provider can claim funding they must get a signed parent declaration form. If necessary, they must validate the eligibility code on the provider portal.

For working parent entitlement codes, providers need to confirm the earliest term they can claim funding from. They must do this using the Bracknell Forest provider portal before offering a funded place.

Before providers start offering the early years entitlements they must also have a policy in place regarding additional charges. The document, Guidance for applying additional charges for funded children, has more information.

Terms and conditions

Full terms and conditions for the funding of early years places for 2, 3 and 4 years olds can be found in the provider agreement. From September 2024, this will expand to include children from 9 months.