Entitlements
Funded childcare for children aged 9 months to 4 years – for working families
You may be able to get funded childcare for your child aged 9 months to 4 years old if you live in England and are working.
The amount of funded childcare you can get depends on:
- your child’s age and circumstances
- whether you’re working (employed, self-employed, or a director)
- your income (and your partner’s income, if you have one)
- your immigration status.
Currently children aged between 9 months and 2 years old will be entitled to 15 hours of funded childcare and children aged 3 and 4 will be entitled to 30 hours of funded childcare (the universal 15 hour entitlement plus this 15 hour working parent entitlement)
From September 2025, all working families eligible for this entitlement, will be able to access 30 hours of funded childcare from 9 months.
For more information, please visit Check you're eligible for free childcare if you're working.
15 hours of funded childcare for 3 and 4 year olds – universal entitlement for ALL children
All children that live in the UK are entitled to 15 hours of funded childcare from the term following their 3rd birthday.
For more information, please visit Help paying for childcare.
Entitlements - Additional Charges
The Government funded hours are intended to cover the cost to deliver free, high quality, flexible childcare. It is not intended to cover the cost of meals, consumables, additional hours or additional services so you may have to pay additional charges. Please speak to your childcare provider about this.
Applying for Funded Childcare For Working Parents in England
For more information of when to apply, please visit Apply for free childcare if you're working.
Each term has an application deadline, please see below:
When your child turns the relevant age | When you can get your hours from | When to apply |
1 September to 31 December | Term starting on or after 1 January | By 31 December |
1 January to 31 March | Term starting on or after 1 April | By 31 March |
1 April to 31 August | Term starting on or after 1 September | By 31 August |
Check with your childcare provider to find out the exact date your funded childcare can start.
If you are starting a new job more than 31 days from now, you may still be eligible to apply. Please visit Apply for free childcare if you're working.
If you can apply now but are more than 31 days away from starting a new job, please contact us on 0300 123 4097 to access your code.
If you are eligible, you must reconfirm your details every 3 months, or your eligibility code will expire.
15 hours of funded childcare for 2 year olds – for families that are in receipt of additional support
If you have a 2 year old and you claim certain benefits, you may be eligible for 15 hours of funded childcare.
For more information, please visit Free education and childcare for 2-year-olds.
Support with childcare costs
Universal Credit
You may be able to claim back up to 85% of your childcare costs if you’re eligible for Universal Credit.
You (and your partner if you live with them) will usually need to either:
- be working - it does not matter how many hours you or your partner work
- have a job offer.
For more information, please visit Help with childcare costs.
Tax-Free Childcare
If you get Tax-Free Childcare, you’ll set up an online childcare account for your child. For every £8 you pay into this account, the government will pay in £2 to use to pay your provider. You can use it to pay for childminders, nurseries, after school clubs and play schemes.
You can get Tax-Free Childcare at the same time as 15 or 30 hours funded childcare if you’re eligible for both.
Your child must be 11 or under and usually lives with you.
For more information, please visit Tax-free childcare.
Contact Details
Organiser: Early Years Funding Team
Telephone Numbers: Jenny Jones - 0161 253 6917
Sue Garner - 0161 253 6967
Joanne O’Donnell - 0161 253 5414
Email Address: earlyyearsfunding@bury.gov.uk
Information about the support which is available for children and young people 0-25 years old, with a sensory impairment.
Service Overview
Bury Vision and Hearing Impairment\Deaf Education service supports children and young people, 0-25 years old, with sensory impairment:
- Hearing Impairment
- Visual Impairment
- Multi-Sensory Impairment
How to access the service
Children and young people are usually referred to the service through clinical settings (Ophthalmology and Audiology). The service provides support, advice and information to families and education providers. Training is offered to mainstream staff, and the service works closely with other agencies to ensure the best outcomes for children and young people.
This guidance refers to and should be read in conjunction with:
- DFE Alternative Provision Statutory guidance for local authorities 2013
- DFE Statutory guidance for Exclusion and Suspensions 2023What is Alternative Provision?
The DFE define Alternative Provisions as follows:
- Education arranged by local authorities for pupils who because of exclusion, illness or other reasons would not otherwise receive suitable education.
- Education arranged by schools for pupils on a fixed period exclusion.
- Education for pupils being directed by schools to off-site provision to improve their behaviour
What is Good Alternative Provision
Good alternative provision is that which appropriately meets the needs of pupils which require its use and enables them to achieve good educational attainment on par with mainstream peers. The provision will differ from pupil to pupil, and many will access provision on a part-time provision to compliment a core curriculum delivered in school whilst others may require full-time provision. However, there are some common elements that alternative provision should aim to achieve and the DFE guidance identifies these as:
- good academic attainment on par with mainstream schools – particularly in English, maths and science (including ICT) – with appropriate accreditation and qualifications.
- that the specific personal, social and academic needs of pupils are properly identified and met in order for them to help to overcome any barriers to attainment.
- Improved pupil motivation and self-confidence, attendance and engagement with education; and
- Clearly defined objectives, including the next steps following the placement such as reintegration in to mainstream education, further education, training or employment.
DFE Registration Requirements
Alternative Provision can be registered with the DFE of unregistered. The DFE guidance states that a provider should be registered as an independent school if it meets the criteria for registration are that it provides full-time (over 17 hours) education for:
- five or more pupils of compulsory school age.
- one or more pupils of compulsory school age with an education, health and care plan or
- one or more pupils of compulsory school age who are looked after.
Full time is considered to be more than 17 hours and includes any transport that the provider is providing.
Where a provider does not meet these criteria, for example, by providing only part-time education there is no requirement to register. Schools can use unregistered Alternative Provision bit should assure themselves through their due diligence and quality assurance that a provider is not operating illegally. If schools suspect that a provider is operating as an unregistered provider and is in breach of the conditions outlined above, please contact N.Bell@Bury.Gov.uk to discuss further.
Powers of schools to direct a pupil off-site for education to improve behaviour.
The DFE Suspension and Exclusion Guidance 2023 sets out schools’ powers to use off-site direction.
The guidance states that:
- Where interventions or targeted support have not been successful in improving a pupil’s behaviour, off site direction should be used to arrange time limited placements at alternative provision or another mainstream school.
- During the off-site direction the pupil must be dual registered
- Code B should be used if the provision is an approved educational activity that does not involve the pupil being registered at any other school.
- Depending on the needs and circumstances of the pupil, off-site direction into alternative provision can be full-time or a combination of part-time support in alternative provision and continued mainstream education.
- A proposed maximum period of time should be discussed and agreed as part of the planning and alternative options should be considered, as part of the planning, upon review of the time limit.
- The governing body must show regard to Alternative Provision: Statutory guidance for local authorities, headteachers and governing bodies.
- For maintained schools the governing body must ensure that parents are provided with written notification about the placement. For pupils with an EHC plan the local authority can request, in writing, that the governing body hold a review meeting. When this happens, the governing body must comply unless a review meeting has taken place within the last 10 weeks.
- The governing body must ensure that the school ensures regular review meetings that parents are invited to.
- Any other agencies that may be working with the young person such as pupil’s social worker, CAMHS, CST, YOY, should be invited to all review meetings to ensure a coherent plan is in place to meet the young person’s needs.
- The governing body must provide written notification of their decision as to whether the requirement to maintain the placement should continue and if so, for what period of time
The Bury Alternative Provision Directory
Bury has an established framework of alternative education providers which is renewed on a regular basis. Providers on the framework are subject to a procurement process and annual due diligence checks.
- Where the provision is being directly commissioned by the Local Authority this must follow the correct internal processes and the provider mut be on the directory.
- Schools may use providers on the framework but can also commission other providers.
The Directory is intended to make it easier to identity providers within the area and to match provision to need and is arranged into six “Lots”
- Full-time Secondary Alternative Provision
- Full-time Primary Alternative Provision
- Key Stage 3 Turnaround Provision
- Vocational Provision
- Tutoring
- Complimentary Provision including mentoring
Commissioning Provision
The responsibility for the alternative provision rests with the commissioner. Where this is a school, the school should ensure it has completed its own due diligence and quality assurance checks.
In choosing a placement the commissioner should pay regard to statutory guidance and ensure that:
- The nature of the intervention, its objectives and the timeline to achieve these objectives should be clear agreed and clearly defined.
- It should be clear, in choosing a certain provision, how that provision meets the young person’s needs.• Progress against the objectives outlined at the start should be regularly reviewed.
- Regular reviews should be organised and planning for the next stage of the young persons education/life should be incorporated into these reviews.
- All relevant information should be shared with providers to ensure that appropriate provision can be made.
- Where necessary risk assessments should be completed and shared.
- Where a provider is proposing to work in a public place with a young person as part of the programme, a full risk assessment should be carried out as part of the commissioning process.
- Commissioners must ensure at the start of the placement that the process for reporting on attendance and safeguarding issues has been clearly identified.
- Commissioners must maintain on-going contact with the provider and pupil with clear procedures in place to exchange information, monitor progress and provide pastoral support.
- Once a placement is agreed the school maintains responsibility for safeguarding, child protection and attendance monitoring.
- Where the pupil has an EHCP, the school must ensure that the provision meets the needs identified in the plan.
- Where the intended outcome of the placement is a reintegration into school, this should be carefully planned as part of the review process
Informing the local authority of placements
In order to ensure that the local authority is able to maintain an overview of all Alternative Provision placements for Bury children, schools are asked to notify the Local Authority of any such placements using the link below.
https://forms.office.com/e/jKTBUwJ21g
This will enable the Local authority to effectively monitor number of pupils in providers in order to ensure that the statutory guidelines are followed.
Where schools or local authority officers have a concern about a provider on the directory, they are asked to contact n.bell@Bury.gov.uk as soon as possible to discuss their concern.
The Team provides support for parents, carers, children, young people, schools and agencies.
We provide advice and support in relation to:
- School attendance matters - schoolattendanceteam@bury.gov.uk
- Prosecution of parents/carers for non-school attendance
- The issuing of penalty notices regarding school attendance and unauthorised holidays taken during term time - penaltynotice@bury.gov.uk
- School exclusions, both suspensions and permanent exclusions - exclusions@bury.gov.uk
- Child Employment and Entertainment - child.licensing@bury.gov.uk
- Elective Home Education - ehe@bury.gov.uk
- Children Missing Education - cme@bury.gov.uk
- Home Tuition (Referrals via the Section 19 Panel)
- Education Safeguarding
- Traveller Education Services
- Asylum Seeker and International Arrival Educational Support
Service is available Monday to Friday during office hours
For further details about our service, please visit School Attendance, Exclusions and Community Education Team - Bury Council
Alternative Provision Directory and Section 19 Policy
- Alternation Provision Directory[1.26MB]pdf file
- Section 19 Policy 2023[685KB]pdf file