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Can you explain what all the different daycare application forms are for?
Click here for more information on this question.

What types of childcare are available?
Childcare is available in the form of Full Day Care, Sessional Care, Creches, Out of School Care and Childminders. More information about these types of childcare can be found in the Information for Parents section.

Where can I find Childcare?
You can find out about the different types of childcare and where it is available by telephoning the Childcare Information Service (CIS) on 08000 345340 or click on the Childcare Search part of this site.

What is the Childcare Information Service?
The Childcare Information Service provides up to date, comprehensive, accurate and impartial information and guidance about childcare, resources, training and other relevant children’s issues to families, carers, students, providers, employers, professionals, local government and other agencies. More information can be found here.

What is the Working Tax Credit (WTC)?
The Working Families Tax Credit is a tax credit for working parents and is designed to make work pay for working families. It is administered by the Inland Revenue. If you and/or your partner work 16 hours a week or more and your income is below a certain limit, the credit will be added to your regular pay. For more information about this you can telephone the Tax Credit Helpline on 0845 3003900. More information is available at www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/taxcredits

What is the Childcare Tax Credit (CCTC)?
This is a part of the Working Families Tax Credit and provides help with childcare costs. You need to be using registered childcare to access this. For more information telephone the Tax Credit Helpline on 0845 3003900.

What is ‘registered Childcare’?
Registered childcare means that the place where the childcare is taking place and the people providing the childcare have been inspected and registered by the Early Years Ofsted Directorate as meeting the National Standards for Under Eights Daycare and Childminding. See section on Information for Parents

What are the National Standards?
These are a set of 14 Standards that childcarers must meet if they are to be registered by the Ofsted Early Years Directorate. There are 5 sets of standards, one for each type of setting – Childminders, Full Day Care, Sessional Care, Out of School Care and Creches. Copies of these are available from Barnsley Choices.

What is Nursery Education Funding?
Nursery education funding provides children with a funded part time early education place. In Barnsley children are eligible for this the term after their third birthday until they start full time school. The places are limited to 2½ hours a day for up to 5 sessions a week. Childcarers must have been registered to provide Early Years Education by Ofsted. Settings which can provide this are Pre-schools/Playgroups, Full Day Nurseries, Maintained Nurseries and Childminders if they are part of an Accredited Network.

What does it mean when a setting is ‘Quality Assured’?
This refers to a provider who has completed a recognised quality assurance scheme in addition to meeting Ofsted requirements. For more details visit the quality assurance section of this website.

What are the benefits of using a quality assured setting?
Parents can be confident that the setting will have met national quality standards regarding it’s management, staffing, training, premises and equipment and the care it provides. Quality assured settings offer an overall service to families which meet higher standards than the Ofsted process requires. For more details visit the quality assurance section of this website.

Who can care for children before and after school?
Before and after school care can take place with a Childminder in their home or in an Out of School Club. Many Out of School Clubs also provide Holiday Clubs during school holidays. For further information about contact the Childcare Information Service on 08000 345340 or click on the Childcare search part of this site.

I want to become a childminder/ work with children. What are my choices and where do I start?
Look on the childcare as a career part of this site or telephone Barnsley Choices on 775977 for more information, or the Childcare Information Service on 08000 345340 for a Childminder Start Up Pack.

Is there a standard charge for childcare?
There isn’t a standard charge and charges vary between settings. The best way to find out costs is to speak to childcare providers.

Can Childminders accommodate shift work?
Childminders tend to be flexible and many will be able to accommodate various shift patterns. Contact the Childcare Information Service for advice in this area - telephone 08000 345340. To find local childcare click here.

Nursery Education Funding

What happens if a child moves during the term?
From the Summer term 2007 the Authority is piloting a scheme whereby the Nursery Education Funding will follow the child. Adjustments will be made for both children starting and leaving settings after the headcount date. Providers have been supplied with forms to notify the Authority of any children starting or leaving (PPCS and PPCL).

Can a child access five sessions of nursery education over 2½days?
Yes, but the sessions must have a break between them of at least an hour, and on any invoice to the parents, it must be clear to the parents that a discount has been made for the nursery education funding and that 2.5 hours per session of nursery education has clearly been accredited.

Now Ofsted have taken over the regulation of childcare, can I expect just one inspection for my childcare and early education?
At present the system still stands where a pre-registration inspection by Ofsted childcare inspectors will take place before a setting can open. For the early education provision the education arm of Ofsted will visit anytime after registration to provide funded places, this may be a week after registration or maybe much longer. In many cases the childcare and education inspections are now combined.

For how long after their fourth birthday are children eligible for a nursery education grant?
Children are eligible to access nursery education funding up to the end of the term in which they are five. Most children go to school before they are five, but, if the parent decides to defer a place until the term following the child’s fifth birthday the school will hold open the place for them provided that the new start date falls within the same academic year.

What if parents want to access fewer than five sessions a week, or mix and match where the sessions are at?
Diversity is encouraged in the childcare sector and private and voluntary settings can offer from one to five sessions a week for funded children. Some children go to two sessions at one setting on certain days, and other settings for three sessions. Younger children often claim fewer than five sessions funding initially.

How many weeks a year is nursery education grant provided for?
Nursery Education Funding covers 38 weeks per year.

What should a setting do when they are registered to take children and provide nursery education places?
Settings should use the form in the Conditions of Grant pack available from the Foundation Stage Consultants (281961) to register themselves. Barnsley Choices do not have a system where a final check up of settings is done. The setting decides with advice from Barnsley Choices and the PLA whether it is ready to go ahead.

How is the system checked up on?
All children claiming nursery education funding must be kept on a register, which is the green register provided. Unless settings can prove that they have their own system which is better, they must use the register provided. The register must be on site at all times, and all providers should be aware that spot checks and audits are carried out by the admissions section.

Why do Barnsley Choices ask for a business plan?
A business plan is asked for to ensure that all nursery education grant funded settings are sustainable. The business plan needs to show that the money is used for funding three and four year old education places. So for example, there is no need to keep resources for this group of children separate. However, the setting needs to demonstrate that the money is being spent on appropriate resources.

How do I find out what to do when?
Each year a timetable of dates to which all providers must adhere is in the nursery education grant pack which is sent out by the Barnsley Choices Business Advisor, who should be contacted if you would like a copy of this pack. At the beginning of each financial year, the school admissions section will send out a funding timetable to all registered settings.

What about children transferring to school?
Admission to school is completely separate from maintained nursery admission. Being at a school nursery does not guarantee a place at the school, and parents must be made aware of this. Posters concerning admission to school will be distributed annually in September to all registered settings to ensure that parents are made aware of the need to apply for a school place at the appropriate time.

I have read about reciprocal arrangements, what's this all about?
When a child lives very close to another authority, children may choose to access their nursery education grant in a neighbouring authority. For example, for somebody living on the outskirts of Barnsley, it may be as easy to access an early education setting in the Wakefield Metropolitan District, as in the Barnsley Borough. There are reciprocal arrangements for this to happen, and contact should be made with the Admissions Officer for further details as arrangements can change. More information can be found in the Information for Parents section.

Now children are coming into settings younger, sometimes they are not toilet trained, can I refuse to take them?
No setting can refuse to take a child who is not toilet trained. It is the responsibility of the setting to sit down with the parents and work out a programme together of how to integrate the needs of all children.

When I have all these new children starting at once it helps to stagger the intake, is that ok?
There are many benefits to taking children a few each day at the start of a new term. It would be suggested that the maximum length of time to stagger an intake for is 2 weeks. If children have not been taken into a setting by head count day and are on the register and to the best of the settings knowledge they are going to attend, then they can be claimed for.

Where can I get more help?
The Barnsley Choices Team’s Business Advisor is able to offer help with business advice, and send out information packs and give support and advice with developing a business plan. The Barnsley Choices Early Education Team are able to support settings in providing educational places for 3 and 4 year olds. The Pre school Learning Alliance work with playgroups who are offering funded settings. The School Admissions Section offer advice relating to the claiming of Nursery Education Funding. More information about these types of childcare can be found on the Information for Parents section.

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