Invoices and receipts should meet the duty of the Statutory Guidance ensuring they are clear, transparent, itemised and broken down separately*, allowing parents/carers to see they have received their child’s early years entitlement completely free of charge and understand that any fees paid are for additional hours or optional services as follows:
- the free entitlement hours
- additional private paid hours
- food charges
- non-food consumables charges
- activities charges
* by January 2026
Please be aware that there is no requirement for children accessing a purely funded place to be issued with an invoice.
The early years’ entitlement should not be deducted as a monetary subsidy from the total fees charged.
Invoices must show the number of funded hours/sessions within the invoicing period, the number of paid for hours/sessions (if applicable) and the hourly/sessional rate agreed with parents/carers and as published.
Early years' providers can charge for meals and snacks as part of an early years' entitlement funded place and they can also charge for consumables such as nappies or sun cream and for services such as trips and musical tuition. Parents/carers should therefore expect to pay for these, although providers should be mindful of the impact of additional charges on parents/carers. Providers, who choose to offer the early years' entitlements, are responsible for setting their own policy on providing parents/carers with options for alternatives to additional charges, including allowing parents to supply their own meals or nappies, or waiving or reducing the cost of meals and snacks.
Invoices and receipts should include the early years' provider's full details so that they can be identified as being issued by a specific early years' provider.
Invoices must show the number of meals and snacks in the invoicing period and the rates charged.
Invoices must show itemised charges for additional services such as trips, extra-curricular activities such as language, music, or dance tuition.
Charges for additional hours and services not associated with the early years entitlement funded hours are a private matter between the provider and the parent. The local authority will not intervene where parents/carers choose to purchase additional hours or additional services. However, providers are continued to be reminded of their signed contract around charges to parents, ensuring that they are completely transparent with any additional charges prior to a parent taking up their child's funded place.
Parents/carers must not be charged for consumables that are necessary for the effective delivery of childcare, including, but not limited to, craft materials, crayons, paper, books, instruments, toys, or other equipment or learning resources that are necessary for the effective delivery of childcare.
Providers must not charge the following* to parents/carers of a child in receipt of a funded place, as these are intended to be covered by the early years’ entitlement funding:
- administration/service charges to cover on-line registers, qualified teaching staff, staff training, learning journals
- non-refundable deposits as a condition of taking up a child’s entitlement place
- core business running costs, including, but not limited to, Ofsted registration, rent and maintenance, staff wages, cleaning materials, insurance, or utility bills such as energy, gas or water
- general charges which include but are not limited to, non-itemised enrichment charges, sustainability charges, business continuity charges, additional charges, enhanced ratios, hourly rates, or any other supplementary charges on top of the funded hours
- any additional fees that are not specifically identified and itemised as being for chargeable extras as described in A1.33 of the Statutory Guidance. These charges must be voluntary for the parent:
- consumables to be used by the child, such as nappies or sun cream
- meals and snacks consumed by the child
- extra optional activities such as events, celebrations, specialist tuition (for example music classes or foreign languages) or other activities that are not directly related or necessary for the effective delivery of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework
Providers can also charge parents for any additional, private paid hours according to their policies and procedures, provided that the take up of additional hours is not a condition of accessing a funded place.
*this is not an exhaustive list
Template invoices are attached to this page.