If your child is receiving funded childcare or early education, you must complete a Parent Declaration Form. You will be given the form by your child's early years' provider, after your child's first funded session.
After the first funded session, parents must complete, sign and return a parent declaration form to the provider at the start of each funded period (1 September, 1 January and 1 April).
This will allow the provider to claim the early education funded entitlement for your child.
As a child's parent/ legal guardian you must complete the Parent Declaration Form given to you by your chosen early years' provider, this will allow them to claim the early education funded entitlement for your child. You should complete this form once your child has attended their first funded session with their provider.
The parent declaration form must be completed accurately, using your child's full legal names, including middle names as shown on their birth certificate or passport. You must not use abbreviations or nick names for your child. Your early years provider will need to check identification documents to ensure that the information matches and will use this information to claim the funding for your child.
The parent declaration form constitutes a formal contract between you and your early years provider, please ensure that before signing you have read and understood the terms and conditions. These can be found on page 5 of the form.
Funded hours
Please ensure that when completing your declaration form that you are only claiming the hours your child is entitled to (either 15 or 30 hours) and that you declare any hours used at any other settings, including those in other local authorities.
Overclaims may result in your provider having to charge you for the hours. Please ensure you carefully read the declaration form and understand what you are signing, ask your provider if you have any questions. Your provider should not complete the declaration form in advance and then ask you to sign it, you should either complete this yourself or with support to ensure that the information is accurate.
The parent declaration form must be completed, signed, and returned to your provider at the start of each funded period:
- 1 September
- 1 January
- 1 April
You can use the same form for the whole year, but you should only complete the funded hours section and sign and date the form for the current funded period and not until your child has attended their first funded session of the funded period.
If you sign and date the form before the start of the funded period, it will invalidate the agreement, and your provider will not be able to claim the funded hours. This may result in your provider having to charge you for the hours.
For families eligible for the working parent entitlement, you must provide:
- a valid eligibility code; and
- national insurance number
The eligibility code and national insurance number allow eligibility to be checked. Without this information you will be unable to claim this funding for your child.
For families with a child eligible for Funded Early Education for Two Year Olds (FEET) funding, the eligibility reference number was included in the email you received confirming your FEET application was successful.
The 10-digit reference number for this funding will be in the following format XX-XYZS-USYZ.
If you cannot find this, please ask your early years provider to contact the Surrey Funded Early Education Team at fundedearlyeducation@surreycc.gov.uk who will be able to help.
If you think that your child may be eligible but have not yet applied, you can find more information on the Funded Early Education for two year olds (FEET) page.
There are some circumstances where children may be eligible for both Funded Early Education for two year olds (FEET) and the Working Parent Entitlement. In these circumstances, we recommend that families apply for FEET funding.
This is because, once a child becomes eligible for FEET, they can continue to access this entitlement until they transfer to the Universal funded entitlement the term after they turn 3 years old. With the Working Parent entitlement, it is possible to fall out of eligibility if circumstances change.
Please ensure that when completing your declaration form that you are only claiming the hours your child is entitled to (either 15 or 30 hours) and that you declare any hours used at any other settings, including those in other local authorities.
Overclaims may result in your provider having to charge you for the hours. Please ensure you carefully read the declaration form and understand what you are signing, ask your provider if you have any questions. Your provider should not complete the declaration form in advance and then ask you to sign it, you should either complete this yourself or with support to ensure that the information is accurate.
If you receive certain benefits or your child has been adopted from care, is being looked after by the local authority, has left care through a special guardianship or has left care and is subject to a child arrangement order, then your child may be eligible for additional Early Years Pupil Premium funding.
If you believe your child may be eligible for additional funding, please complete this section on the declaration form. Your provider will then check eligibility and if your child is found to be eligible this will be paid automatically to your early years setting. This funding will be used to provide additional support, training or new experiences for the children.