Provider Headcount Portal Faqs

Provider Headcount Portal FAQs

What is the Provider Headcount Portal? The portal is a web based programme used by Nottingham City Early Years to collect funding data. It is designed for providers in the private sector to claim termly funding for eligible 2, 3 and 4 year old children.

It allows secure password protected access to their setting’s Early Years database enabling providers to submit funding claim data online, quickly and efficiently. It provides a comprehensive picture of the children funded at the setting, term after term. The portal enables providers to log on securely anytime and anyplace.

NB: As with all computers and passwords, they are as secure as you make them i.e. limit use of access; protect the password; back-up the data regularly; ensure that the computer/office is secure at all times.

Providers are required to retain a copy of the completed Parent Agreement for each child for auditing purposes. The reverse of the Parent Agreement allows parents of 3 and 4 year old children to provide information necessary for claiming Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP). Providers will submit this information via the portal. Early Years (EY) will check the parent eligibility and fund accordingly. OfSTED will monitor how the EYPP is utilised within the setting. Access to Portal

How is a password for the portal obtained?  Providers will contact EY to provide a secure email address they wish to be used for the Portal.  This email address will be forwarded to Nottingham City Council’s I.T. department who will create an account for the provider.  Providers will be informed by email of the login details to enable access to the portal.  The password created by I.T. can only be used once.  The username and password must be copied and pasted into the username and password box on the portal. Users will receive an email to change the original password to a new one and are asked to select a ‘secret question’ and ‘answer’.

How is access to the website gained? Either through the EY website or by copy and pasting the URL address onto your internet browser. Do not open the link through the email.

What if the password is forgotten or entered incorrectly? Select ‘forgotten password’.  You will receive an automated email which includes a temporary password and a link to click on.  Keep the password you’ve created safe and remember what it is.  Make sure the password is entered in the correct format i.e. using the correct upper or lower case.  Make sure that ‘Caps Lock’ is ‘off ’ on your keyboard.  Do not keep re-entering what you think might be your password. If you cannot remember what the password is then select ‘forgotten password’.  If the password is repeatedly entered incorrectly, the user will be locked out.  Please contact EY immediately if you encounter a problem. Claiming Funding

When is claim data submitted? Providers will be kept informed of term dates and claim dates by messages sent to the portal. Providers will be informed at the beginning of each term when the portal is available for use to claim funding for that term and will also be informed of the date when the portal will ‘Lock’. After the portal is locked, access will not be possible.

Do claims have to be submitted immediately at the start of term? No. The portal can be accessed to add to or amend at any point before the date the portal is locked. Do not leave submitting the claims until the last minute. If a problem occurs with submitting data, there may not be enough time to rectify the error. (See flow chart).

What happens if the funding data is not submitted by the time the portal locks? The funding for the setting will not be processed.

What if a child starts at the setting half way through a term? Claims data can be submitted at any point up to the ‘lock’ date. Input the child’s details on the portal and only claim the number of weeks and hours remaining for the term.

What if a child starts or leaves the setting after the portal is locked? EY must be informed immediately by email, of any changes to a child’s attendance pattern or start date after the ‘lock’ date. A child with a start date after portal has ‘locked’ will not appear on the setting’s data. Managers would therefore claim for this child in the following full term as a new starter. A leave date can only be edited if the date occurs in the current term (providers will not be able to end date a child that left in the previous term). If a child left in the previous term and was not end dated in that term, do not claim funding for this child in the current term. Do not complete any of the fields to claim funding.

EY will contact providers at the end of each term to ask for any known end dates for children leaving before or at the end of the term.

What if a child’s details are entered incorrectly? Children may not be funded if the data you submit is not accurate. To ensure that funding is apportioned correctly, please check all the data submitted.  Make sure funding is claimed for a child using the child’s ‘true’ name, not their ‘given’ name e.g. true name is Benjamin - given name is Ben.  If there is a conflict between the data submitted and the data currently held on our system, then EY will contact providers to resolve the conflict.  Errors cannot be rectified after the portal is locked.

How do I enter the correct details?

Child date of birth (DOB): The DOB should be manually entered as DD/MM/YYYY (including adding the / ). The funding amount may not be correct if an inaccurate DOB is submitted. Shared or stretched funding: Do not select shared or stretched funded hours. Family address: Always use the postcode address finder, do not manually input e.g. if you manually enter st anns the claim will be rejected, as the programme will not match the address held on our database for St Ann’s. Weeks/hours: It is the responsibility of the provider to ensure that the weeks and hours claimed for a child is accurate.  Only claim up to the maximum number of funded weeks per term i.e. your setting might be open for 16 weeks from September to December, however the funded weeks for the autumn term are 14.  Enter the average hours attended per week e.g. 25hrs attending per week/15hrs claimed per week.  Refer to the Local Code of Practice on the EY website for funding information.

Forena Surname DOB Funding Start Date Leaving Weeks Average Hours Hours me age Date attended hours attended claimed for term attended for term per per week week Marianne McBains 31/03/2012 3 01/04/2015 12 25 300 15

Complete all data ‘fields’ It is the responsibility of the provider to ensure that all the data submitted is accurate.  ALL data ‘fields’ must be completed when submitting claims. The portal will only import the data you enter. Empty ‘fields’ (i.e. if you do not enter the weeks or hours attended) will impact your funding as the programme cannot calculate funding when there is no data.  Claim the full funded week’s entitlement for each child per term unless you are aware the child will be attending less hours.

Reminders:

 Providers cannot have additional conditions attached to funded hours, such as registration fees, purchasing of lunches or accessing holiday periods (term-time only).  The funding is not a subsidy to your hourly charges.  Funded hours need to be indicated on invoices as ‘free of charge’ for parents purchasing additional hours.

For user information, please refer to:  Early Years website: http://www.mynottingham.gov.uk/earlyyears  Provider Portal Guidance Notes

EY contact details:  [email protected]  0115 8764825 / 8761277 Early Years Headcount Provider Portal

BEGINNING OF A TERM ‘Estimate’ Payment made at the beginning of term –based on 50% of previous term’s actual hours (Calculated on the number of funded hours the previous term)

EY PORTAL IS UNLOCKED - TASK ISSUED TO PROVIDERS

The portal is unlocked to enable providers to access their settings claim data Providers will claim again for attending children or add a new child or end date a child who has left/is leaving in the current term

EY PORTAL TASK Providers should be accessing the portal AND submitting their data to Early Years

HALF TERM POINT

EY PORTAL TASK Providers should be accessing the portal AND submitting their data to Early Years

EY PORTAL IS LOCKED If a child starts or leaves the setting after the portal is locked, the provider must inform EY immediately by email

EY DATA CLEANSING EY cross check the claims for funding within the city and in the county to eliminate double claims FINAL CONFIRMTION REPORT EY send the final report of data for provider to confirm as correct or amend as necessary and return the report

EY PROCESS FUNDING REPORT EY forward the ‘Balance’ funding report to Finance Department for payment

EY REQUEST END DATES The provider will inform EY of known ‘end dates’ of children leaving before the end of the current term

END OF TERM EY prepare ‘Estimate’ funding reports for the following term and forward to Finance Department for payment