Funding rates for all early years providers, childminders and school run provision will be as follows.
All rates are applicable to the specified age range regardless of what entitlement a child is eligible for:
• Children under 2 years old - £9.85 per hour, per child - (rate up to 31st March 2025 - £9.48)
• 2-year-olds - £7.84 per hour, per child - (rate up to 31st March 2025 - £7.56).
• 3 and 4-year-olds - £5.43 per hour, per child - (rate up to 31st March 2025 - £5.08).
Deprivation supplement rates for 3 and 4-year-olds only will be as follows:
• £0.20 lower rate - (per hour, for every funded 3 and 4-year-old in attendance) if between 10-32% of funded children reside in attendance with postcodes in the 20% most deprived areas. From 1st April 2025, settings eligible for this could have an hourly rate of £5.63 per hour for 3 and 4-year-olds.
• £0.30 higher rate - (per hour, for every funded 3 and 4 year-old-in attendance) if between 33-100% of funded children in attendance with postcodes in the 20% most deprived areas. From 1st April 2025, settings eligible for this could have an hourly rate of £5.73 per hour for 3 and 4-year-olds.
The Contingency fund will continue for 2025 - 26, this is to mitigate financial risk and to manage any unforeseen budget variances as a result of changes in demand. This will be c. 0.9% of the overall budget.
Government guidance instructs local authorities that they must pass through at least 96% of their funding from the government to early years providers. From April 2025, Staffordshire County Council will ensure a budgeted funding pass-through rate of 97.8% to its Staffordshire based providers.