Nursery World - DfE miscalculated under-twos places by £120m, but says it will cover whatever it costs

The DFE miscalculated funding for under-twos places by at least £120 million, but has now committed to ‘funding however much it costs’.

The DfE has promised to give all local authorities extra money to cover additional funding weeks for under-twos places, PHOTO: Adobe Stock

Today (22 January), it was revealed the Department for Education had miscalculated funding for under two-year-olds as the entitlement comes in from September, while funding years are normally worked out for April-March.

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The DfE mistakenly assumed it would need to fund 22 weeks between Autumn 2024 and Spring 2025, however, it has come to light that some local authorities will have more funded weeks than this due to where school holidays fall. In some local authorities, there will be 26 weeks.

To ensure ‘fairness’, the DfE has committed to funding all local authorities for 26 weeks rather than the original 22 weeks.

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