3 year funding and council headcount days

[dorotheamink]

Can anyone explain to me the deal with 3 year old childcare funding? All the online govt advice says it should kick in the term after your child turns 3, so for my DS he's 3 on 28th March = funding should kick in sometime after 1st April. However, North Somerset have headcount days which record how many children are 3 on certain dates of the year (the next one being in May sometime). This could mean funding doesn't kick in till June, 3 months after he turns 3.

Does anyone know:
What this is all about??
Does it mean funding will kick in after this headcount day or be backdated to term after 1st April? (Presumably not).

Any info gratefully received as the nursery and the council website are very unhelpful.

Thanks!

Are you a parent? If so none of this is anything if you to worry about. It's the settings who sort it out. Yes headcount day is part way in to the term and it authorises funding for the whole term.

The next term is September after April I think. I also think the two may be separate? It's a clear cut off for dates. If your DC is 3 before the cut off, then they're entitled from the next term for 3 year funding.

Forget about headcount, that's for the nursery to sort out. Your ds is eligible from April, not from headcount

Our local authority have a headcount forecast that needs filling in this week, so your dc would be recorded on that and then on actual headcount day it would be confirmed that he is definitly attending the setting.
But as a pp has said, you don't need to worry about it, the setting does all the claiming for you.

Ok thanks very much, that's reassuring. i thought this should be the case but enquiring a while ago with my nursery wasnt clear at all and I gave up trying to get a straight answer. I basically just wanted to be able to budget and know when I will start paying less so it sounds like it should be the term after Easter, I'm guessing

Your child will be entitled to funding from 1st April