The appeals process for parents and providers for Early Education Funding

The following is City of York’s (CYC’s) appeals process for:

• parents or carers who are not satisfied that their child has received the early education funding to which their child is entitled, or
• providers to appeal against issues relating to the administering of the Early Education Funding

All 3- and 4-year-olds, and 2-year-olds who meet eligibility criteria, are entitled to a funded early education place, consisting of up to 15 hours per week, for 38 weeks of the year.

Working families may also be eligible for a further 15 hours in addition of the universal 15 hours entitlement, if they meet certain eligibility criteria. These places are available in all settings that are registered to provide funded Early Years provision and can be with:

• nurseries
• playgroups
• childminders
• maintained nursery schools
• nursery classes in primary schools
• out of school clubs

For parents and carers in the first instance you should always contact the provider(s) concerned to discuss the problem and if necessary, go through the provider’s internal complaints procedure to try and resolve the problem. However, if you're not happy with the outcome then you can appeal to CYC, through the following process.

All complaints will be dealt with fairly, swiftly and courteously and be given equal importance.

First stage

This appeal must be made in writing to the Early Years Entitlement and Sufficiency Manager. Write to:

You can expect them to respond to your query within 10 working days. However, if the problem is going to take longer to resolve you'll receive an interim reply telling you a date by which you can expect a full response.

Parents and carers will need to provide the following information:

• full name and date of birth of the child concerned
• name and address of the provider where the child attends, if your child attends more than one provider please give details of all providers where you child attends
• total funding received at all providers for the term concerned
• full details of the nature of the complaint

Providers will need to provide the following information:

• full name and date of birth of the child concerned
• name and address of any other setting that you are aware the child attends
• total funding claimed and total received for the child concerned
• full details of the nature of the complaint
• signed parental declaration form relating to the child concerned

Second stage

If they are unable to find a solution or you're still not satisfied with the response, then the matter will be referred to the Early Education Funding (EEF) Advisory Group, an independent group with representation from the private, voluntary and independent sector for their consideration at an appeals meeting.

The parent or provider will be able to attend the meeting or they can choose to have the appeal presented to the group by the Early Years Entitlement and Sufficiency Manager.

Assessment by an independent body

You can complain to the Local Government Ombudsman, an independent organisation which will investigate any sort of complaint about the council. But they will only do this after you have been through all the stages of the council’s complaints procedure. The contact details are:

• write to:
  Local Government Ombudsman
  The Oaks
  No.2 Westwood Way
  Westwood Business Park
  Coventry
  CV4 8JB
• telephone: 024 7682 0000
• fax: 024 7682 0001
• email: [email protected]