Funding Options

July 30, 2025

DAF

Disability Access Fund (DAF) provides funding to support children with disabilities and/or special educational needs. The DAF aids access to early years places by, for example, supporting providers in making reasonable adjustments to their provision.

Children may be eligible for DAF if they meet the following criteria:

  • The child is in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA).

And the child receives one of the following:

  • The 15 hours entitlement for children aged nine months to two years of working parents
  • The 15 hours entitlement for disadvantaged two-year-olds
  • The universal 15 hours entitlement for three and four-year-olds
  • The additional 15 hours entitlement for eligible working parents of three and four-year-olds.

For more information click on the link below

Disability Access Fund – West Sussex County Council

EYPP

The Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) is additional funding for early years providers to improve the education they provide for eligible children claiming Early Years Funded Entitlement (EYFE)

The aim of the EYPP is to close the gap between children from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers by providing funding to early years providers to help them raise the quality of their provision.

For more information click on the link below

Early Years Pupil Premium – West Sussex County Council

LA 2-year-old funding

The 2-year-old Local Authority (LA) Issued Early Years Funded Entitlement (EYFE) is applied for directly through the LA you live in. Families who meet the eligibility criteria can claim up to 15 hours of funded childcare per week for 2-year-olds.

For more information click on the link below

2 year old Local Authority Issued Early Years Funded Entitlement – West Sussex County Council

Pattern of delivery

All Government funding is delivered between 9am-2:45pm, at The Pink Cottage. 

Available Monday – Friday, for a minimum of 2 days                                                                  

Government funding accepted at The Pink Cottage:

  • LA issued 2-year-old EYFE: 15hrs
  • Working families 9mth – 4 years EYFE: 30hrs  

Funding is ‘stretched’ over 49 weeks of the year at The Pink Cottage. 

Therefore, 30hrs per week of funding = 23hrs per week.

                  15hrs per week of funding = 11.5hrs per week

We are closed for all Bank holidays, 1 week over Christmas & 1 week in August. The dates will be confirmed for you after your child has been enrolled. You will not be invoiced for these closures. 

The 4 days after the August Bank holiday, are unfunded days. If your child was to attend nursery for the 4 days, you will be invoiced the full cost of your child’s care.

You may choose to keep your child out of nursery for those 4 days. You will not be invoiced for any contracted funded hours (9am-2:45pm), but contracted private hours (8am-9am & 2:45pm-5:30/5pm) will still be invoiced.

Consumable Charge

The Early Years Funded Entitlement (EYFE) for children over 9 months old to statutory school age is at the heart of the Government’s vision for all children to have access to high quality early years education that helps them reach their full potential.

The Government funding rate we receive is only intended to cover the cost of the professional, high-quality childcare your child receives. It does not cover the cost of the many other items we have to purchase and provide.  Chargeable consumables include things such as, overheads for trips out, sun cream, nappy sacks, wipes, spare nursery nappies, tissues, fruit for snack and cereal for breakfast. 

We request that a £10 consumable charge be added to your invoice each month. Your £10 per month is a contribution towards The Pink Cottage having a continuous supply of the consumables listed below.

You have the right to opt out of paying the £10 per month consumable charge. If this is the case, we must insist at you supply your child’s spare nappies/pull-ups. Their wipes, Sudocrem, nappy sacks, and sun cream. There will need to be a consistent supply in their bag or bulk supplied to us and we will store the items in a named basket, only for your child.

2 portions of snack will also need to be provided by you for each session your child attends. The snack needs to be in line with our lunch policy.   

The Breakdown chart (below), shows an estimated cost to The Pink Cottage each month for the items on the Consumable list, to ensure the setting has a continuous supply of the items.

Consumables costs table

CurriculumNursery Sessions and Free Entitlement Funding – September 2025