I was under 25 when I started it so got funded under the Modern Apprenticeship Scheme that the government run. However, depending on who you go with, you can get something called European Social fund which, from what I can gather, funds people outside of the required age gap. I did mine with Smart Training and not long ago, they were offering free NVQ2 training to older students.
If you have previous qualifications, good exam results for example, you may not have to start from level 2. You should check because I went straight onto doing level 3, again it would probably depend on your training provider.
With regard to the diploma, I was a bit of a nightmare at going to college. I think it was an age thing tbh, but I didn't fancy sitting in a classroom for hours on end when I could go straight into a job, get paid and get on the job training. I found it was more beneficial to me to learn the theory and then actively observe it in practice with children that I knew and was familiar with. Plus some of the things you get taught on the diploma, such as planning etc, differ greatly between settings, so for me, actually working in a setting and learning things their way was better for me.
The one study day a month was the clincher, as I mentioned previously, I was rubbish at attending college, but with one day a month, I could concentrate on the work I needed to do both theory and practical and it meant it was flexible enough to fit in around DD. I did get sent on many placements doing the diploma, but I always hated being treated like a student, when all I wanted to do was learn the job. You tend to get the paint pots as a student!
My first placement was in a local authority nursery attached to a school and it was great, then I went into a Y1 class in primary school. I left before the nanny placement was due to start but I have since heard that many colleges don't offer the nanny placement anymore because of security issues. Don't know how true that is though, might be worth checking with the local college.
I have been qualified three years this year and have just finished the Foundation Degree which was funded through transformation fund. I know you can get TF in some areas if you are doing the level 3, but not sure about level 2. You get help with fees and bursaries for books and equipment.
Hope this helps and if you need any more advice/info, let me know and I'll see if I can help